THE CHIEF MUSHROOM

Pardon me for living. We all owe the Victorian Police Commissioner an apology. Violence isn’t so bad in Melbourne. It’s all the media’s fault. The bloody Herald Sun keeps running photos of bashing victims with their eyes blackened and their heads bashed in. And the TV news keep running footage of late night bashings in the CBD. And grieving families at funerals. It gives the place a bad name. Makes things look worse than they are.

As the Commissioner said yesterday:

‘I think the thing that fuels perceptions is the fact that there’s so much CCTV footage around, people with mobile phones recording things, so you will now see violent assaults played out on the nightly news.’

The Police Chief says it ‘needs only a very small number of graphic incidents to be played on the nightly news and it drives a disproportionate fear around what’s happened and what may possibly happen.’ It’s the media’s fault. Shoot the messenger.

Much better in the old days wasn’t it Commissioner, when you could fudge the statistics, spin like crazy, treat us like mushrooms?

That’s what we’re meant to be. Mushrooms. Kept in the dark in the cupboard and fed bullshit.  So now Mrs. Doubtfire has been replaced by Mr. Mushroom. Or Mr.Toadstool of Toad’s Hall.

They tried the mushroom treatment last month when there was a racist attack on an Indian family. Victoria Police tried to keep it quiet for days because the Premier was about to take an olive branch to India. Police didn’t put out a call for witnesses even though they were still looking for a fifth suspect. No media release even though they put out alerts on such major issues as a policeman’s stolen hat.

Yesterday, Mr. Overland did not deny there were problems on city streets but said it is not an ‘urban ghetto’ and many parts of the CBD were safe. Name one safe street in the city after midnight, Mr. Mushroom?

I would have asked him that myself on my 3AW program yesterday but he declined to appear. Maybe he thought he’d get a softer ride on Mitchell this morning.

The Herald Sun today is spot on. Under the headline This is Real, Mr. Overland, its editorial says: ‘This newspaper will not contribute to a wall of silence by failing to publish details of the thuggery that is bedevilling police and politicians.’

It’s called doing their job, Mr. Mushroom. I suggest you do yours. And stop looking for scapegoats.

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2009