Comments on: Why The Chaser’s charges were dropped

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:23:22 +0000

@jason: See? The ABC should get me to mastermind their publicity. I wouldn't offend anyone...

By: jason

jason — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:13:03 +0000

Another hilarious Chaser story. Those guys!

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2229657.htm

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:08:07 +0000

The two stand-outs for me are:

“There was no attempt by police lining the route to inspect or stop [the motorcade].”
The second open gate “marked the beginning of the restricted area”, but “police in the vicinity were unaware of that.”

At least some of the police on duty had not been adequately briefed, to say the least! They didn’t know the boundaries of the restricted zone; they didn’t have a schedule for when legitimate vehicles were coming through, or didn’t have clear, direct communications channels; and they simply didn’t check anyone’s credentials.

@Stephen Stockwell: I’m guessing we’ll hear nothing further unless a journalist tries to pursue it tomorrow morning. Watch for the spoiler story: something government- or police-related which will distract the mainstream news.

By: Stephen Stockwell

Stephen Stockwell — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:26:30 +0000

Once these charges are officially buried tomorrow, can we expect a suitably egged and embarrassed senior officer of the NSW Police to front the media and try to save face in the fallout? That’s what I’m looking forward to.

Seeing the Chaser footage again on the news tonight reminded me of what’s (still) great about this country.

By: Quatrefoil

Quatrefoil — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:13:26 +0000

Well, quite. At least someone had the sense to avoid a costly media circus which would have ended up in exactly the same place. The prosecutions were never going to be defensible.