Outing in the media

Channel 7 (which I virtually never watch - let me see, Reno 911 and Scrubs could be my only occasional vices) has shamefully caused the downfall of yet another NSW cabinet minister. The Yahoo!7 web site ran this AAP story, which implies that the "scandal" has something to do with his use of his minesterial car to get to Ken's at Kensington. In fact all ministers in NSW may use their government cars as their primary form of personal transport, and if he'd been filmed going down to the pizza shop in it, there would have been no story.

The poor guy's dealing with his wife suffering from cancer, and clearly he's got needs that can apparently be satisfied by a couple of hours in the Sauna. Not illegal, not corrupt, not anything to do with his public role. Now I support vocal homophobes that are engaging in gay sex being outed by the media, because it reveals the vacuity of their public pronouncements - but this is just an invasion of privacy.

One wonders what beef Channel 7 has with the NSW government - as this is clearly a destabilisation of the Keneally regime. One also wonders whether Yahoo(must I use the "!") is comfortable with its choice of co-branding with Channel 7. Not that I think this is an item that would bring that relationship into question more than your average episode of Today Tonight. At least The Australian had the decency to call the story into question, but that opinion piece was a slim side-bar to a full page about the story, including a bizarre little article that is a sketch history of Ken's, followed by a screed of cut & paste from their web site detailing the facilities of the club, with plenty of erection and ejaculation double entendres.

Rarely have I seen a better argument for some decent privacy laws in Australia.