Loveday Writing

This episode was all about the Hoddle Street Massacre, ethical dilemmas, and judgement calls.

The episode kicks off with Lindsay, Dale, Helen, Rob, and Gerry having dinner at Charlie’s house on 9 August 1987, where they talk about the upcoming Bicentennial. Charlie unveils a new promo for it, and Lindsay reveals that Dale will cover pageantry, and Helen will cover Prince Charles & Princess Diana’s visit. When Helen asks whether they will cover the Aboriginal perspective of the Bicentennial, Lindsay dismisses her.

Afterwards, Helen tells Lindsay that she doesn’t want to cover Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s visit but Lindsay tells her that Charlie will fire her if she doesn’t. Lindsay then takes a call from the newsroom. Meanwhile, Gerry tells Dale about the positive feedback he got from audience testing, with audiences finding Dale trustworthy and consistent. When Dale asks about the negative feedback, Gerry informs him that the audience also found him robotic and stiff.

Lindsay informs everyone that there’s been a shooting in Clifton Hills, and Helen and Dale rush back to the newsroom, prepping their script for the bulletin on the way. Rob tries to get a hold of Noelene over the phone but doesn’t get through. When he drives off, he goes down a closed street near the site of the shooting, and hears a gunshot in the distance. He leaves, going back to his place but also doesn’t find Noelene there. When he eventually gets to the newsroom, he’s relieved to find her there. Meanwhile, Helen and Dale do a breaking news bulletin on the shooting.

The next morning, Dale, Helen and Lindsay watch footage that the camera crew shot the night before, which includes a shot of a dead victim inside his car. Helen thinks that they should show the footage, but Dale disagrees. When Dennis asks Lindsay for his opinion and sign off, he approves it. Dale voices that he doesn’t think they should run this raw footage mere hours after the event, but Helen again disagrees and goes on air with the footage by herself. Cheryl watches off camera, disgusted by the footage of the dead victim, and Geoff and Evelyn watch from home, equally disgusted by it. Jean later takes a call from the family of the dead victim, revealing they recognised him from the footage.

Later that evening, Rob is visiting Noelene’s family, where Noelene’s father tells her to take a different route to work. As Rob is leaving, he tells Noelene that Dennis asked him if he and Noelene are a couple, and asks if they have a future together as they are still keeping their relationship a secret, even though her family knows. Noelene tells him that even though her immediate family accept their relationship, they haven’t told their community or family back in Korea, and she would be affected by it in the office differently than he would be. When Rob goes home, he keeps hearing gunshots and sirens, and ends up staying the night at a motel.

The next day, Helen suggests that they interview Stephen Bramhall, a gun lobbyist, to get the firearms perspective, especially as there is talk to change gun legislation. Lindsay walks in moments later to tell them that the dead man’s family called, Dale says they should apologise, and Lindsay shuts down Helen’s idea of interviewing Bramhall. Helen and Dale then go into Dale’s office, where Helen agrees that airing the raw footage of the dead man was a mistake, but they cannot back away from reporting on changing gun laws.

Meanwhile, Cheryl visits Evelyn to do make-up for her for an upcoming event. They talk about the Massacre, and Cheryl admits she’s been having nightmares about it. Kay arrives, moments later, clearly high, unaware of what happened. Cheryl tells Evelyn about the dead man’s family calling to complain about the footage.

Back at the News at Six office, Noelene asks Helen for advice on going public with her relationship with Rob at work. Helen tells her to be prepared for any gossip and innuendo from the staff and to invest in a suit as she’s a producer now, she needs to look it, be assertive and stand her ground.

Helen and Dale manage to get Stephen Bramhall on the desk for the bulletin. Whilst the conversation between them starts off civil, it escalates when Bramhall blames the media for gun-related massacres and says gun control isn’t the answer. When Lindsay demands they go to sport, Rob rushes to the desk, only to stumble over the autocue. Things go from bad to worse when Geoff criticises the team and Helen individually for the coverage on his own program. Lindsay then tells Helen that Charlie wants her off the desk until the media coverage of the Massacre dies down.

Helen goes to see Charlie and tells him that the suspension is a mistake, although admits airing the footage of the dead man was one. Charlie tells her that her instincts are off, that she’s aggressive, needs a bit more emotion, and to be gentler on the air. Helen asks him if she’s supposed to act emotional and gentler because she’s a woman and he says yes. She says that she will recalibrate, but she needs to do it on the desk. Meanwhile, Noelene goes to see Rob at his house, but doesn’t find him there.

The next day, Dale speaks to his mother over the phone where she admits she’s afraid of driving through the city. Helen walks into the kitchen, clearly depressed. She tells Dale that she’s not going to work today as her judgement is off. Meanwhile, Cheryl goes to see Evelyn and asks her if she told Geoff about the dead man’s family complaining to the station about the footage. Evelyn is offended by the question and denies it.

Back at the office, Noelene asks Rob where he was the night before, informing him that she went to his house and he wasn’t there. Whilst he initially tries to lie his way out of it, he admits he was sleeping a motel due to his anxiety over the Massacre. Meanwhile, Dale calls Helen at home, telling her to get ready as he has an idea for her.

Dale takes Helen to the park to do vox pops as they have focused on every angle but how the Massacre has affected everyday people. Helen does the vox pops and files a compassionate report, pleasing Charlie, who tells her that he wants to see more of that. Meanwhile, Noelene, now dressed in a suit, tells Dennis about her relationship with Rob, with him by her side. Dennis tells them they can broadcast the relationship as much as they like, he then gets a call from someone asking him to meet them.

The episode ends with Dennis going to see Charlie in his office. Charlie asks him who made the decision to air the footage of the dead man, as Lindsay said it was him. Dennis said it was discussed as a team but Lindsay made the call. Charlie asks Dennis who he thinks is the best news director working today. Dennis tells him it’s Vincent Callahan, an old colleague of his, and asks Charlie if he wants him to suss him out, Charlie says yes.

Overall, I felt that this was a solid episode, exploring the ramifications of airing raw footage of a historical and traumatic event too early, as well as the human ramifications it could have from the family’s distress to Rob’s anxiety. I also appreciated Helen giving Noelene advice woman-to-woman and as a mentor. It will be interesting to see where we go from here with Charlie as it looks like he is playing everyone like Chess pieces, as he first told Lindsay that Helen was on the chopping block and now he is leading Dennis to believe that Lindsay is next.