Holding the Mass Media to account

In Australia and New Zealand there have been some negative articles about the Autism Spectrum. Such articles have done nothing but set back awareness and understanding of the Autism Spectrum by several years. There needs to be better control and accountability of the way stories are investigated, researched and written before they reach the wider community. I have personally been offended by an article which describes a juneville with a supposed Asperger Syndrome diagnosis as "a serious and frightening mental disorder" and "reportedly diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome which manifested itself in bouts of severe paranoia". Such negative portrayals with very little research and knowledge of what Asperger Syndrome is does nothing but to seriously tarnish and send the wrong message to the wider community about the Autism Spectrum. Quite simply I believe that Media Channels which includes the visual, electronic media and newspapers need to be held into account. I have worked over the years a long with others to try and portray positives stories about the Autism Spectrum which never seem to occur. No matter how hard I have tried to get positive stories, I just find myself hitting a brick wall.

This afternoon I contacted "The Courier Mail" which is Brisbane's local newspaper to personally complain about this story and how the journalist should have known better to have researched the facts prior to issuing the article. The reporter did apologize but this story should be withdrawn from the paper as it not at all helpful to the positive work that those of us in the Autism Community are trying to achieve. In all honesty the media should know better! I have rung Channel 9 also in Brisbane to complain about a previous story which also portrayed a negative betrayal of the Autism Spectrum only to confront a very rude, hostile and unhelpful assistant to the program manager. Whenever stories appear that are not based on fact and are put together in a slap dash and ignorant fashion, then the public who are concerned about an article's content have a right to complain and to spell out the truths to correct misinformation. The media should confront scrutiny and even areas of discrimination it should be held into account before it publishes incorrect information and again acts on ignorance. The wider community need to see the positive stories of persons on the Autism Spectrum and it is about time the Australian media starts to do so as it is long overdue. On a positive note my story did feature on the issues confronting unemployment in Australia called "Workplaces Fail The Anxious" in The Courier Mail on 27th September 2010. I also featured in some local radio interviews. We need more positive stories on the Autism Spectrum and this should start immediately!