I naively thought that once I brought this blatant abuse of power to the media’s attention, that the game would be up. Boy, was I off the mark. Apathy reigned supreme, and in some cases, as in the case of the Manly Daily, collusion reigned.
Manly Daily After I had sent the Daily a letter headed "with due and proper respect" coupled with the evidence gained so far; they responded with an unfavourable full page story on Bullock. (Bullock article) I then sent them a letter headed "without due and proper respect" with a very favourable response. It came in the form of a full back page story on Bullock urging his team to “bash” their opponents ("bash em" article). I digitized it and sent it to the usual gang with the heading “this mans blatant thuggery finally catching up to him”. However, the Daily’s capitulation would cost me dear. Their reporting of the trial was so off the mark, it boggled the imagination. Their M.O. was similar to the police’s. It went like this, if 10,000 words were spoken in a normal day of trial, they would pick out 3 or 4 hundred words that suited their agenda and print it. Using those rules they could manipulate the words to say anything they want, which they did. Only twice did the reports come within a country mile of what happened. For the first 2 weeks of trial, during the prosecutions case, not once did the Manly Daily specify that the people giving evidence for the crown were part of the group that attacked me/us. (Manly Daily coverage of trial) But it gets even worse; in one item, they even had the audacity to suggest that my own bouncers were trying to restrain me. How wrong can you be. They stated that the offences carried a 7 year maximum. They kept referring to the fact that I admitted to repeatedly punching Bullock-I told anyone that listened that I hit him 3 to 4 times in less than a second while he was elbowing the crap out of the barman after he had king hit me and left me with a dislocated jaw. All because I publicly criticised them for blindly printing the blatantly biased propaganda that D.Y. police spoon fed them. Is there no such thing as journalistic integrity in this great nation? Which brings me to the Daily Telegraph.
2007.05.04 Regretting the Error I have come across this page with reference to my plight. It is the Manly Daily's apology of the numerous errors in their reporting.
Three errors in the one short article. Mistakes Happen, sure. But there can be something said for court reporters that don't pay attention to the case, and make their own judgments about the proceedings.
The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph was on a bouncer knocking week when Sam Page, a young Sydney surfer was seriously hurt in an incident with a bouncer on the gold coast. Just after the jury falsely found me guilty of the relatively minor charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and in the 10 weeks before sentencing; the Daily Telegraph, in all its infinite wisdom and unsensational style of reporting, (not), had the following words in 2 inch letters taking up the whole front page saying “-cowardly bouncers king hitting innocent pub goers”, with a subheading-“bouncers starting more fights than they break up”. And of course my name attached to it.(telegraph1) Well they really hit the nail on the head there, boy, now I feel safe in the knowledge that Australia’s checks and balances system is in good hands. Of course I rang up and gave them a verbal slapping, so, to correct the imbalance, they ran an even more biased story the next day. I suppose I should be thankful it was on page 17, (telegraph 2) however its content made up for its lowly position. It had a photo of Bullock, stating “the photo too gruesome to show the jury”. What? The jury saw the exact same photo and worse. Some of the photos even had finger marked blood smears where someone had tried to make it look worse than it was. Remember this guy had to be held back from picking a fight with the doormen minutes after being ejected and was wandering around the footy later on the same day (T-501), at the same time I was being sacked because the police said he was about to die in hospital. (he was back playing A grade Rugby League in 2 and a half weeks and even scored a try.)
Adam Walters Adam Walters, the channel 9 “political reporter”, heard of my predicament a couple of weeks after “the incident” and rang me. He was very, very interested in my story and was going to run with it until he found out that it was the Narrabeen sharks, not the Cronulla sharks. (a suburban team, not a national team, for all you non Sydneysiders).
He dropped me like a hot potato.
He promised me the “truth would be told”, but that was the last of him. What does this say about journalists in this country?
Allan Jones Allan Jones at least paid me the curtesy of responding by letter, but gave me a lecture on “presentation” and whined that he had to “wade through pages and pages just to find my address”. However, my business card (with address and phone number) was stapled to the front page. Yikes, what does this say about journalists in this country?
Piers Ackerman Piers Ackerman requested more information and that was it. Nothing.
Today Tonight Channel 7’s today tonight hung on to my entire transcript, along with all the evidence, for 2 months, promising to make a story, then came up with an excuse I had not heard of yet - “we are short 2 producers, a director and 2 reporters”.
A Current Affair Channel 9's a current affair sent me a letter saying they were considering running with it, then sent a letter saying they were not running with it. It makes me wonder who leaned on them.
60 Minutes Channel 9's 60 minutes said that they could not help
4 Corners Channel 2’s 4 corners sent me a letter saying they were considering running with it, but I expect that they will consider where next years budget is coming from and withdraw, but at the moment I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
None of the other media outlets had even bothered to reply.
--- Until recently ---
The Southern Courier 26.09.10 - After 3 and a half years of effort the Southern Courier ran a story for another court case I was involved in because of "trumped up" charges. The case was of course dismissed. (Actual press release and full details in the "malicious harassment" update chapter)
2009.10.09 Channel 10 Channel 10 ran a very supportive and helpful story today. Third lead in story-2 full minutes long-covered many of my issues and mission statement.
My site is gaining further recognition through others and has a link at a website called 'Dumb-Ass Cops', they can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/yzt5658.
There has been considerable chatter about the website on the AussieLegal
The link to my website is on the right top side of the homepage. Could this be the beginning of mainstream acceptance? If not, then the link at www.basicfraud.com is!
When you get there, click "other links" located on the left of the home page and scroll to the bottom.
Basic Fraud receives national and international hits numbering in the millions. Just the kind of exposure I am looking for. I didn't want to embarrass my state or my country but if it is the only way reluctant officials will act, then I will continue to forge new allies in an attempt to better my state and country.
2009.10.22 More Exposure I have been networking with other vigilant people across Australia and the world who are also fighting for their rights, and the rights of others.
One of those people, Russell Mathews runs a website, Australian Law Publishers. He, and his associate, John Reid also run a Forum listing other examples of police corruption.
