Press Council rules The Daily Telegraph did not cross the line with ‘nutty professor’ gag
The Press Council has ruled that The Daily Telegraph did not cross the line in its reporting on Dr Fiona Martin. Martin lodged the complaint regarding three articles, one of which was headed ‘The Nutty Professor’.
The story was run on the front page of the Telegraph on August 8, along with a full report on pages four and five, titled ‘Degrees of Hilarity’ and ‘Bizarre rants of a class clown’. Another story was headlined ‘Sydney University lecturer shocks students with internet search advice on ‘committing suicide’.
The stories claimed students in universities across Sydney were being subjected to ‘dark humour’ and ‘excessive political correctness’, naming media lecturer Martin as one of the examples. The story included a photo of Martin with the picture titled ‘The Nutty Professor’.
I’m writing a movie script … The Shitty Headline Writer.
This is the kind of exercise to which we have descended. Today, many people seem poised to strike at the next opportunity to be offended.
The headline, just like the article it heads, is lame and slightly mindless in my opinion, but the reply and the subsequent attention given is nothing short of futile.
Professors (imagined) have been traditionally Germanic ( age of enlightenment) and absent-minded ( supposed of those who think above the mundane) for many years, and well before our own time.
Rather than an opportunity to be offended, this whole episode was an invitation to laugh at both the reporters and oneself.