In the wake of their shocking handling of Jonathan Trott’s departure from England’s Ashes squad due to mental health issues, the Australian media should be asking how far are they willing to go just to sell a few newspapers?
Rather than show the smallest shred of compassion or concern for his well being, the manner in which our newspapers hung Trott out to dry is sadly just the latest example of the complete lack of accountability and standards in our media currently.
Since when did people with serious mental health issues become easy targets for our newspapers?
Is that what Australia’s press has become – bullies who ridicule and belittle those who are doing it tough?
In an age where rates of depression and suicide in males are at an alarming level, Jonathan Trott should be applauded for having the courage to come forward, put his hand up and say ‘I could use some help’.
That takes strength, I don’t care what anyone says.
What he (or any sufferer of mental illness for that matter) doesn’t need is to be belittled on a national scale by our daily newspapers and have his strength made to look like weakness.
So much great work has been done by many to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness, but unfortunately it also doesn’t take much for that good work to be unraveled.
In Trott’s case, News Limited chose to trivialize his condition, and mental illness in general, with misleading and unflattering coverage of his Ashes exit.
The headline on the front page of Monday’s Australian read ‘Too Hot for Trott’.
The back page of the Herald Sun was equally unfair, with ‘Trott Off: Rattled Batsman packs bags for home’.
The Adelaide Advertiser completed the trifecta with ‘Trott Walks’ splashed all over the front page.
These unsympathetic headlines wrongly portray Trott as some sort of mental weakling, a guy who found the heat of the Ashes cauldron too much, so he took his bat and ball and went home (pardon the pun).
This crap couldn’t be further from the truth.
Clearly, Trott’s issues with stress, anxiety and depression have been a long time coming, and it seems the never-ending grind of the international cricket circuit has finally worn him down.
The Brisbane Test was simply the final straw, not the sole cause.
For the headlines to suggest Australia’s pace blitz on Trott in the first Test shell-shocked him into a hasty retreat out of the country is almost laughable, if it wasn’t such a downright offensive fabrication of the truth.
Therein lies the problem: the average punter probably won’t even venture inside the paper to read the articles on Trott, he will just form his opinion off the headlines, and as such the English batsman will be forever tarnished in their eyes as the guy who ‘walked away from the Ashes’.
It’s downright wrong.
The truth is in the last three Ashes series, all of which England has won, Trott has proven himself to be nothing short of an absolute warrior for the English cause.
Even if he never faces another delivery in Ashes encounters, he has already left an indelible mark on Test cricket’s fiercest rivalry.
Who could forget the 2009 series decider at The Oval, where Trott peeled off a nerveless century on debut to take the series away from Australia?
Or the 2010/11 series, where his tons at the Gabba and the MCG played a massive role in England/s eventual 3-1 series win?
In a rivalry that has broken as many careers as it has made, Trott’s legacy as an unflappable, dependable and courageous first drop batsman is secure – no matter what has just transpired.
Some of the journalists and sub-editors in this country need to start asking themselves how far they are willing to go, and how low they are willing to stoop, just for a headline.
The treatment of the English cricket team by our press on this tour, from the Courier Mail‘s cringe-worthy ‘Broad Ban’ campaign to the Trott saga, has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Embarrassed and ashamed are two other words that spring to mind when thinking about it.
Clearly the English cricketers agree with me, and I fully support their media ban on the Aussie press as they rally around and support their fallen comrade Trott.
A journalist without quotes is like a rifle without ammunition, so let’s see how our ‘gutter press’ fares without their daily dose of news from our English tourists.
I doubt whether Jonathan Trott even cares about our media’s portrayal of him, as he heads home and focuses on the important job of getting healthy again.
But some day soon there will be someone else like Trott who does care, and we need to ask ourselves how far we are willing to push them in order to just fill some space in a newspaper, before something terrible happens.
Let’s hope common sense can prevail before it comes to that.
Silky
Guest
In fact if anything, they are at times an amusement.
Silky
Guest
Not a worry Chris.. merely an observation fella.
ChrisT
Guest
And the bleeding hearts society Silky? Worth your worry?
Silky
Guest
All I can say Chris is don't sweat over the stuff you can't control mate. It just isn't worth your worry.
ChrisT
Guest
Which is exactly what I do Silky. Unfortunately, there are far too many not making that choice and News Limited loves to feed them.
Silky
Guest
Only if you choose to believe everything you read Chris. You do ofcourse have the freedom not to pay any creedence to them, or indeed contribute to them with your hard earned.
Pete from Sydney
Guest
Barry tend to agree, the articles on the whole were very empathetic to Trott's plight...it's a national sport now bashing newspapers, they are font of all evil it appears....garbage. The ex captain of England gave Trott a greater spary in twitter than any of the Aussie newspapers.
bigbaz
Guest
I'm with you mate, some people search to be enraged.
ChrisT
Guest
Nope. The " death of this wonderful and unique planet if given a free reign " will be brought about by poisonous institutions like News Limited my friend ....
Silky
Guest
Very well said Barry. The bleeding hearts society will be the death of this wonderful and unique planet if given a free reign.
Sandy
Guest
Great reply Barry, summed up my thoughts exactly.
Matt F
Roar Guru
To provide an example of my point, the cover of today's Daily Telegraph is devoted to a supposed romance between James Packer and Miranda Kerr (as nauseating as the thought is). Naturally such a nationally significant event also requires devoting pages 4-5 to further analysis..........
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
Well written Kane.
Pri Sekhon
Guest
I notice that all the papers you refer to as acting this vile fashion are from the News Ltd. stable. Vileness seems to be their special brief.
The Barry
Roar Guru
These sanctimonious articles are getting too much... How long is it since he went home - ten days or so and you're still banging on about it. Why don't you let it go instead of keep it dragging on. You're a hypocrite. As for whining about newspaper headlines who cares - they're just a play on words - after the first 24 hours when the picture became clearer, I haven't read any articles where the actual tone has been anything less than sympathetic. Try reading more than the headline. Really, it's a shame that Trott has such a pun-able surname...but then a lot of the English side do...Alistair Cooke-d, Bell tolls, Swann-song, Finn-ished, Prior history, Joe Root-ed, Anders-gone. Maybe only Pietersen and Carberry are safe from the dreaded headline. Sometimes a good pun is irresistible. You even put a "pardon the pun" in the middle of your article after bagging headline editors for doing the same - although in your case I couldn't for the life of me see what the pun actually was. If Trott had gone home with a torn hamstring would you be in such a flap about the headlines? I doubt it. Which means that you're treating people with mental illnesses differently than you would someone else. Trott was ok to give Watson a spray of such ferocity that Watson stopped in his tracks when he got out in the second innings. Just because Trott has a mental illness or stress disorder doesn't mean he can't cope with a dodgy headline.
The Bush
Roar Guru
The interesting thing about this article is that you're almost (I stress almost) as guilty as the main streams papers. The honest truth about all this is that nobody except Trott's inner circle knows the truth at all. It should be pointed out that the only phrase (at least that I am aware of) that has been used is "stress related illness" so really each side of this debate is reading as more or as little into it as they want. I suspect that until Trott writes a tell all book one day (if he does), we won't know for sure what exactly has and is going on.
Silky
Guest
I can tell you now, had it been an Aussie leaving England after a similar scenario, the papers here would have been just as derogatory and had themselves a field day. Selling papers is the primary objective. Feeding into and off of the public dislike for the opposition and it's fans is nothing new, and shouldn't be read into so much. Lets not get too precious about things.
Matt F
Roar Guru
The media in this country has been a joke for a while now to be honest, especially the likes of the Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier Mail etc. These headlines were, sadly, no surprise
Nick
Roar Guru
Hear hear Kane.
John
Guest
So many professional athletes experience depression in some form and the stigma associated with mental health issues is still powerful enough for athletes to hide this affliction for many years without seeking treatment. Unfortunately a diagnosed mental health issue impacts on an athletes marketability and can destroy all they have achieved and worked for if it is portrayed by the media in a negative way. So much pressure on athletes to be the perfect role models but life is not perfect and people are only human. Good on you Kane for sharing an empathetic and compassionate view on this important story.