Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has called for public debate on journalistic accountability, and the protagonists in the recent Cronulla disturbances have today told the media to “take a good hard look at yourselves.” Is the media to blame for the outbreak of the recent racial violence in Sydney’s southern suburbs, or is the mobile phone?

The simmering racial unrest in that area of Sydney has been fomenting for many years and gang clashes between different groups is not a new phenomenon, neither is newspaper, radio or tv coverage of these disturbances. So what happened this time to make this week’s violence reach critical mass?

The common theme on both sides of the cultural divide has been mobile phone text messages.

Text messages were received telling each group where and when to turn up to push their point of view and get a little action. Those messages were forwarded to group message lists by individuals, and club sms lists were bulk messaged from computer SMS interfaces, normally used to remind patrons of club events and recreational activities.

In a sign that the community considers mobile phones important in the volatile mix of feelings swirling around the southern suburbs at the moment, this weekend Muslim parents have been urged to confiscate their kids’ mobile phones as well as their car keys to enforce a curfew.

Yes the so-called radio shock jocks covered the violence. Sure the papers and tv were there to chronicle the events. But they were not behind the violence, nor were they the inciting element in the mix. Incitement came quietly and personally into the pockets of the protagonists from trusted contacts who knew their mobile numbers.

The blame for escalating the events of this lies squarely at the fingertips of the people who hit the SEND button on those text messages.

radioinfo 15/12/2005