Editorial - Tuesday August 20, 2013

peter jackson editor The Northland Age

THE erosion of once commonly accepted standards has taken another step towards the abyss with the actions of a supposedly popular radio host, and more dismayingly his employer's reaction to what supposedly passes these days for good clean fun.

The Edge morning host Dom Harvey, for reasons that will escape most rational people, took it upon himself to photograph his genitalia then flick the picture to his producer. As is not uncommon these days, he got his addresses muddled, and instead sent it to Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Pascoe, who has the misfortune to share her Christian name with said producer. Pascoe's solitary, dignified comment was that she had experienced an "awkward surprise", while Harvey, who reportedly just about put his back out such was the speed with which he apologised, wasn't finished yet. He displayed a further lack of judgement when he tacked what most would regard as a highly objectionable sexual reference on to his expression of remorse.

Harvey has a record for offensive idiocy, but apparently he pulls in enough listeners to counter that. His employer 'condemned' the incident, but wasn't sufficiently appalled to sack or even discipline him. By Mediaworks standards it was apparently a stupid thing to do, but no one was feeling "stupider" than Harvey himself, and no disciplinary action would be taken.

That a media organisation, even one that moves to the beat of a very different drum than most, would see fit to continue employing someone who clearly believes that photographing their genitalia then displaying the results to other people is amusing, reveals just how far standards of decency have slipped. There was a time when behaviour such as this would have resulted in instant dismissal - still would in many media organisations, including this one - but those days have gone. All's fair in love and ratings, and only a vitriolic public reaction will change that, and then only because advertising revenue might be threatened.

This goes beyond a(nother) brain fade episode for a recidivist dimwit though. Media personalities, for want of a better term, have a degree of responsibility all their own. Their behaviour influences others, and goodness knows we don't need any further encouragement for the younger generation to subject themselves to the damage social media can do. Dom Harvey, perish the thought, will be seen by some as a role model. That's why Mediaworks should have sacked him.

For the uninitiated, the technology Harvey used to flash himself to Sophie Pascoe was a smartphone app called Snapchat, the beauty of which, apparently, is that the images self-destruct 10 seconds after the recipient opens them. That's the theory; the reality is that many smartphones reportedly have the ability to capture the images permanently. The danger of 'sexting,' another new phenomenon, as it is now known, is that stupid people will send intimate photos to friends (or effectively at random, as Harvey did) that will then turn up elsewhere, such as on Facebook.

There may be no harm in that if the sender is mature enough to weather the potential repercussions, and they don't have the ability to sway the more impressionable of their audience. One 17-year-old last week displayed greater intellect than this particular radio jock when she was reported as saying that she 'screen-shot' everything immediately, "in case it's a one-second goodie," then deleted as appropriate.

She didn't worry about her pictures surfacing somewhere else but conceded that Snapchat had the potential to be a "magical sponge of blackmail." That probably hasn't occurred to Dom Harvey, and it almost certainly won't occur to countless young people who can't see past the end of their phone screen.

So we'll just wait patiently to hear of someone who has jumped off a bridge because of the unbearable shame they have unwittingly brought upon themselves, and The Edge will continue titillating its audience with excruciatingly witty antics from people who should know better but don't and never will.

The sad thing - one of the sad things - is that the Snapchat website describes the app's raison d'etre as being to enjoy the 'lightness of being', adding that the allure of fleeting messages reminds us about the beauty of friendship; "We don't need a reason to stay in touch.' Social media are not only consuming, and in some cases destroying lives, but have now redefined the word 'friendship.' We are breeding a generation who are happy to settle for a mirage, when they could have the real thing.

Meanwhile, out here in the real world, far from radio stations that probably wouldn't survive if they had to rely on talent and the likes of the 22-year-old hairdresser who was quoted last week as saying that Snapchat had become part of her daily routine - when do these people ever work? - real people are doing really good things. Ahipara School teacher Petrina Yuretich is one of those people.

Petrina Yuretich is one of those teachers who, far from simply teaching their pupils, shares her passion with them. And her particular passion is reading.

A few weeks ago she won an award for that, but her real reward is still to come. She is planting seeds that will grow, making a huge contribution to enabling the children she teaches today to become intelligent, inquisitive adults. Reading is the key that arguably unlocks every other form of learning. It does so in a fashion that hasn't changed since the first book was printed, and will not change despite social media.

A teacher can give her pupils no greater gift than the knowledge that between the covers of a book lie not only knowledge but wonder, the opportunity to experience people, places and events that no lifetime of actual experience ever will. Books can transport the reader far beyond their own immediate world, in a fashion that social media never will, and a child who develops a love of books early is truly blessed.

Petrina Yuretich knows that; she wants to see children reading not simply as a means of gaining knowledge pertinent to their education, but for pleasure. That is a wonderful thing. In the vernacular, it is cool. Uber cool.

The Dom Harveys of this world outnumber the Petrina Yuretichs, but they always have. The difference is that the former indulges in stupid behaviour whose potential effects are beyond his ken, while the latter has no doubt that what she is doing will help the children she teaches succeed. She is the sort of person parents should think about when they tire of hearing the teacher unions and the ministry-speak that generally passes all understanding. She is the sort of teacher who, despite the unions, bureaucrats and politicians, gives her profession a good name, and who children will remember fondly, and with gratitude, long after their school days have ended.

We've all had great teachers at some point in our academic careers, no doubt - the writer and his contemporaries benefited immensely from some stunningly good teachers at Kaitaia Primary, Intermediate and College all those years ago - and it is gratifying to know they are still being produced by a system in which many have lost faith. Long may they continue to introduce their charges to a world that only they and parents can unlock for them, so that they too might experience the lightness of being that books and education can offer, unlike the sorry imitation that beguiles so many, including the occasional radio star.