Today’s Herald Sun editorial states “It’s beyond time they (EMDs) were scrapped.”
What the Herald Sun – including editor Sam Weir – fails to explain is that prisoners, including those on remand who had not yet been found innocent or guilty – were locked in a cell for at least 28 days, with some locked in cells for over 60 days.
This is a breach of the UN Charter of Human Rights, of which Australia is a signatory. Nowhere does the Herald Sun mention this.
The Herald Sun also fails to mention that even the most dangerous prisoners placed in isolation cells are allowed out – under supervision – for one hour a day. This did not occur during COVID within Victoria’s prisons, in breach of the UN Charter of Human Rights.
As such, prisoners were granted ‘Emergency Management Days’ (EMDs) of four days for every day they were held in locked cells for twenty-four hours a day in breach of the UN Charter.
For unknown reasons, the Herald Sun failed to include this detail in any of its news reports on this matter in its ongoing “Suburbs Under Seige” campaign.
Whilst – as a journalist – we understand that there are word limits in print newspapers (based on space available to ‘fit around the ads’) and in broadcast radio and television based on time limits, such as on-the-hour radio news bulletin of five minutes.
However, there is no excuse for this important detail to be missing when publishing news online when word and time limits do not apply.
The editor of the Herald Sun, Sam Weir – which we’re sure he’ll call ‘an oversight’ – actually blatantly lied to the public to push their “Suburbs Under Seige” campaign.
Sam Weir has allowed blatant, outright lies and hearsay – not facts – to be published in print, broadcast on Sky News and published on its online news sites to generate outrage.
Despite several phone calls and emails to the Herald & Weekly Times newsroom and editor Sam Weir, VicNews did not receive a response.
