Petition against 7News Spotlight passes 36,000 signatures
Two more transgender people have come forward to say their images and videos were used without their knowledge.
- Published by David Knox
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Seven branded it “the most controversial story of the year” but a 7News Spotlight episode on “a generation of confused kids wrongly diagnosed as transgender” continues to draw criticism.
Two more transgender people have come forward to say their images and videos were used without their knowledge.
Olivia Gavranich, also known as Australian musician St. South, said she was “absolutely horrified, deeply hurt and anxious” that a video of her following top surgery “expressing how much better my life was because of surgery” was used in the episode without her knowledge or consent.
She said was getting ready for bed when she received a message from someone on social media informing her that Seven had used the video in the episode.
“My heart sank immediately when they sent through a snippet of the segment … An immediate panic set in,” she said.
“All I could think was that this is out of my control and is going to hurt so many people in my community,” she said.
Transgender content creator Levi Ace Day also spoke out on their TikTok account about the program.
He also said the episode used a photograph of him without his knowledge.
“Now they’re using me so I’m just coming out here to publicly say I don’t support that obviously,” they said in a response video that has had more than 75,000 views.
It follows an apology issued by Seven after Grace Hyland took to social media to say her photos were used without her consent.
Seven described the use of her image was a genuine mistake.
“In a promotional video for 7NEWS Spotlight, the image of a transgender woman was shown during a voiceover discussing children expressing regret over transitioning. We acknowledge the photo might inadvertently imply that the individual in question regretted their transition. As soon as we were made aware the image was removed and the promo replaced. We sincerely apologise for any confusion this may have caused.” a spokesperson said.
An online petition initiated by Olivia Gavranich is now calling on Seven to remove this episode and apologise to everyone who’s images/ videos were shared without consent.
Since its launch on September 5 the petition has already attracted over 36,000 signatures.
“Channel 7 owes the Gender Diverse Community a sincere apology and a public review of their editorial processes to ensure this never happens again. The program needs to be removed from all platforms, 7 Plus and social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” she writes.
Source: ABC
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7 Responses
Liam Bartlett used to be a credible journalist when he was at 60 Mins. Since he moved to 7 for Spotlight he’s lost all credibility. I’ve lost all respect for him I used to have. This has really been a backward step for him.
Absolutely disgraceful of 7 to pander to hysteria and ignore the overwhelming evidence of medical science. Can’t say I’m surprised though. Punching down for ratings is their go-to.
Just to note, for every online petition, there is never an option for a counter-petition, or to be able to sign against the petition. So most of them are not indicative of the issue, unless the response is massive like 10% of the country’s population.
Despite some of the negatives laid out in the article above, congratulations to channel 7 for their bravery in raising this issue, which many are working very hard to suppress.
Australia is often described as being behind the rest of the world on modern issues, and in this one, it is also true. Medical professionals and mental health experts in other, developed areas of the world are seriously worried about pushing medical procedures on children with immature brains and self-worth. Several countries, such as the UK, are reversing laws allowing minors to have surgery. How about we applaud a program which (for once) is trying to help Australia not be the poor cousin.
if the program is such a beacon of integrity on this issue, then why has it (repeatedly, it seems) used deceptive images to illustrate its point?
Good to see this grubby program receive more criticism. Tabloid ‘journalism’ with zero factual credibility.
Ch 7 is plummeting through the bottom of the barrel with this one.
And for the record: of the 1% of the Australian population that transition, less than 1% of that number regret it. So Spotlight’s attempt to say all healthcare should be suspended for trans people was patently ridiculous!!
I don’t watch Spotlight anymore…I don’t like the way the interviewer can get quite aggressive and try to pin down the person being interviewed to get a rise out of them…don’t get me stated on 60 Minutes either…they aren’t much better with some of their stories either…I don’t appreciate it when either show bring in some unknown obscure experts from places like America to help validate the story thinking it is making the show more interesting…we have our own our Australian experts who can offer their expertise.