Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: We knew the Lundy pictures would be out sooner or later

Mark Lundy has divided our workplace out there.

Some of my colleagues think that it's really gross that the Herald, who we work with, have taken photos of Mark Lundy today after he got out of jail yesterday.

Now, the photos aren't anything particularly special - he's sitting in the passenger seat of a car, all you can really see is his face, that funny little beard he's got, some sunglasses and his latte coloured hoodie. It tells you nothing and it shows you almost nothing.

And I suspect the reason it shows you almost nothing is because there are very heavy suppression orders about where he lives at the moment. So anything that identifies the town outside of the car, I would imagine, cannot be published.

So they're a little bit limited in what they can show you.

But even though there's almost nothing to see in these photos, boy, are we clicking on this particular story. It was, when I last checked, the most read and most viewed story on the Herald - so people are interested.

And shouldn't the media be reporting and taking photos of things that we're interested in? I would say yes.

Now, I can understand why people are grossed out by this. I suspect a lot of that comes down to the fact that there is significant doubt amongst some people as to Lundy's guilt - just as there was doubt with David Bain, just as there was doubt with Scott Watson.

And so the feeling is, if you think he hasn't done it, then you feel gross about the fact that he keeps on being harassed after serving his time.

But remember, until he proves otherwise, he is a man who was convicted of murdering his wife and daughter, and his trial and his behaviour around that gripped the nation and frankly turned him into one of the most famous - or infamous - people in the country.

So he is a legitimate news story

And it's not really a question of whether the Herald should have taken those photos, it's actually just a question of where you were going to see that photo first. Because you were going to see it somewhere.

If it wasn't on the Herald, it would be on some other news outlet, or just someone popping down to the local coffee shop, seeing Mark Lundy there, taking a photo of him, and putting it on social media.

Cause we all know what he looks like, and clearly we're all interested in him - and it was going to happen sooner or later, wasn't it?

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, full disclosure. The reason that the boys who are
on air just before me decided to suddenly just start
talking about Mark Lundy without any notice that they were
going to talk about Mark Lundy was because I put
them up to it. So what happened is I bailed
into the studio to chat to them in the three
o'clock news that I wanted to know what they thought.
And the reason I wanted to know what they thought
is because it has divided our workplace out there, and

(00:22):
some of my colleagues think that it's really gross that
the Herald who we work with, have taken photos of
Mark Lundy today after he got out of jail yesterday.
Now the photos aren't anything particularly special. He's sitting in
the passenger seat of a car. All you can really
see is his face, very sad face, that funny little
beard that he keeps on rocking, some sunglasses, and his
Latte colored hoodie. It tells you nothing. It shows you

(00:45):
almost nothing, And I suspect the reason it shows you
almost nothing is because there are very heavy suppression suppression
orders about where he lives at the moment, So anything
that identifies the town outside of the car, I would
imagine cannot be published, so they're a little bit limited
on what they can show you. But even though there's
almost nothing to see in these photos, boy are we
clicking on this particular story. It was when I last checked,

(01:07):
the most read and most viewed story on the Herald.
So people are interested, and shouldn't the media be reporting
and taking photos of things that we're interested in? I
would say yes, Now I can understand why people are
grossed out by this. I suspect a lot of that
comes down to the fact that there is significant doubt
amongst some people as to Lundy's gelt, just as there
was doubt with David Baine, just as there was doubt

(01:27):
with Scott Watson. And so the feeling is, if you
think you haven't he hasn't done it, then you feel
gross about the fact that he keeps on being harrissed
after serving his time. But remember, until he proves otherwise,
he is a man who is convicted of murdering his
wife and daughter, and his trial and his behavior around
that grip the nation and frankly turned him to him
into one of the most famous or infamous people in

(01:48):
the country. So he is a legitimate news story. And
it's not really a question actually of whether the Herald
should have taken those photos. It's actually just a question
of where you were going to see that photo first,
because you were going to see it somewhere. If it
wasn't on the Herald, it would be on some other
news outlet, or just someone popping down to the local
coffee shop seeing Mark Lundy there, taking a photo of

(02:08):
him and putting it on social media, because we all
know what he looks like, and clearly we're all interested
in him, and it was going to happen sooner or later,
wasn't it. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen
live to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.