The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance has condemned Pauline Hanson’s “abuse” directed at a journalist.
In an extreme outburst, Hanson took aim at a question from Guardian Australia reporter Sarah Martin as she appeared at the National Press Club yesterday.
The Senator told the room of journalists that she would no longer grant Martin interviews.
“You’ve got this obsession with constantly trying to pull down myself, my party, or Mrs (Gina) Rinehart,” Hanson said.
“I’ll answer you this question today, but I’m telling you now, don’t come near me for an interview in future, because 25 of your articles … it’s constantly bashing One Nation.”
Hanson also accused Martin’s reporting on One Nation of being “lies” and defended her daughter’s appointment.
“Her abilities, her skills in HR, her abilities in working for the Tasmania University for eight years, and she was head of a department down there. So my daughter is very capable of doing it.”
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MEAA issues statement about Pauline Hanson
On Thursday afternoon, the MEAA issued a statement about the incident.
“MEAA condemns One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s continuing abuse of journalist Sarah Martin, as demonstrated again this week at the National Press Club.
“Hanson’s bitter, personal and unprofessional attacks on Martin, together with the One Nation leader’s ban on Guardian Australia and ABC journalists attending her press conferences, are an assault on the freedom of the press in Australia.
“Hanson’s actions stand in stark contrast with her remarks today that she welcomes the scrutiny of the media on her party, its people and its politics.
“Sarah is an experienced and professional journalist who was attending her place of work to do her job of holding the powerful to account. Journalists must be provided with safe workplaces, free from abuse, so we can uphold the public’s right to know.
“Her question was entirely appropriate. The audience she reports for deserves answers, We call on all our colleagues across the industry, regardless of their employer, to stand with us and hold the line against attacks on press freedom from politicians who seek to avoid scrutiny.
“If a fellow journalist is denied access, threatened or abused, it is our shared responsibility to stand with them. We must ensure all journalists have the same rights to report on matters in the public interest, and to ensure their questions are answered.”
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The ABC and SBS also attacked
Hansons’s appearance at the National Press Club on Wednesday was her first ever, despite being in politics for over 30 years.
Martin was not the only member of the press whom the senator took aim at.
When Hanson announced her desire to dismantle SBS, the public broadcaster’s chief political correspondent, Anna Henderson, told the One Nation leader that it provides Australian news in 60 different languages, and questioned how her plan to close it would help her policy of integrating foreign-born Australians into a “monoculture” (as Hanson called it).
Hanson responded by telling Henderson that she would be “out of a job” if she won office.
Finally, Hanson said she’d like to ban the ABC from her election campaign – unless it can prove it will “treat (her) fairly.”
“I want truthful, honest reporting from the media,” she said.
“You will have access to me … the public must know that we are going to answer the questions for the public, but with truth and honesty, and that’s all I expect.”
“From its chairman down, the ABC has proven itself to be completely in denial about its profoundly transparent political bias and the activists in its ranks.
“Yet they think of themselves as a pillar of democracy. The arrogance is stunning in its scope. It is partly for this reason I have – at times – refused ABC interviews.”
Top image: Pauline Hanson’s outburst at journalist Sarah Martin.