How is gender-based violence covered in the sporting news? An account of the Australian Football League sex scandal

Despite the significant amount of feminist and sociological research devoted to the question of sexual harassment and assault in sport, there has been little accompanying exploration of how the media discuss gender-based violence by sportsmen. This study examines the narratives of gendered behaviour that emerge in stories about Australian rules footballers and violence against women in the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers. As the audience for sport news is primarily male, the way that sexual misconduct by footballers is reported in this section of the newspaper provides an important dimension in theorising how media institutions influence public discourse and understandings of gender.

Scandal, censorship and representation in the online world : an ethical conundrum

This research begins by examining the foundation issues of content censorship from a literary perspective and then proceeds in comparison to discuss the issues of online content appropriateness and whether the same censorship principles of literature are transitional to the online world. Currently, uncertainty exists in how to tackle this issue as there appears to be a lack of formal rules or suggested guidelines applied to the content appropriateness, management and availability of online material. Therefore, where does the onus of online content censorship exist in this medium? Or is it left to the ethical and moral standards of the material source/creator, online access provider or the cultural ethics of the wider community to adjudicate?

The place of scandal : Lara Bingle and Brendan Fevola

Over the period of a few short weeks in 2010 Australian media coverage and public discussion was dominated by news of a ‘sex scandal’ involving two high-profile celebrities – Lara Bingle (model and then fiancée of the vice-captain of the Australian cricket team Michael Clarke), and the Australian rules football ‘bad boy’ Brendan Fevola. The scandal began with the publication of a pixellated photograph in the popular Australian women’s magazine, Woman’s Day, of a naked and apparently unconsenting Bingle in the shower, which was allegedly taken by Fevola during a brief affair years previously and distributed via his mobile phone. This article examines the constructions of women’s sexuality, gender and celebrity scandal in mainstream media coverage of this event. Attending to the Australian news media’s discursive constructions of Bingle’s sexual behaviour, this research begins to map the ways in which celebrity scandals in the mainstream media provoke wider debate about ‘gender appropriate’ conduct (sexual and otherwise).

Scandal thresholds for sports celebrities as charitable ambassadors

This paper considered the charitable ambassador role sports celebrities assume. The research analysed the media attention and the impact on organisations when celebrities transgressed.

'The police are rottenly corrupt': Policing, scandal, and the regulation of illegal betting in Depression-era Sydney

One groundbreaking aspect of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption in New South Wales was to recognize the importance of the historical dimension of corruption. The historical consensus is that systemic police corruption emerged in NSW only after the Second World War but, as Wood acknowledged, there has been little detailed research into earlier periods. One window into policing in the 1930s is provided by the Markell Royal Commission, which investigated allegations of police misconduct in relation to illegal bookmaking in 1936. This article explores the evidence gathered by Markell, and argues that his inquiry uncovered a system of entrenched police corruption at a level of complexity previously thought not to have appeared for another decade. It is argued that poor management contributed to the growth of systemic corruption from the early 1930s, and that a defensive and negative reaction to the exposure of this corruption caused an historic opportunity for
reform to be lost.

Information disclosure and corporate governance in listed companies in China: from Yinguangxia to Enron

China's path to the development of a modern securities market has not been a smooth one. This article argues that efforts to impose Western securities market models on China have been fraught with difficulty. This is especially clear from the adoption of information disclosure principles and practices. While the integrity of disclosure practices is a fundamental element in maintaining investors' confidence in securities markets, disclosure practices need to be attuned to China '5 systemic features, especially in regard to its legal structure and rules. Market failures, such as the collapse of Enron in the United States, have led to a realisation that US disclosure models have their own difficulties and that these should not be uncritically used. This article reviews recent Chinese law andpractice (using the Yinguangxia false disclosure scandal as an example) in this area and calls for the adoption of a more critical approach towards the use of Western models with particular regard to China's own distinctive pathways of reform.

Corruption in the media's gaze

This paper examines a government's incentive to engage in corruption in the presence of independent media. Different versions of a sequential-move game show how collusion between a media-firm and a government as well as a government's ability to ‘spin’ the media allegations can undermine corruption deterrence. Further, because of gains from exposing scandal, the media-firm can face incentives to raise false allegations. The paper shows how such false allegations can provide perverse incentives that favor corruption.

A few good men: psychoanalysis, Abu ghraib and (the) American right

This essay proffers a psychoanalytic reading of the events of Abu Ghraib as deeply symptomatic of changes in American foreign policy and political culture. The paper examines the Lacanian understanding of group formation developed by Slavoj Zizek in his work on politics and culture (in Part I), and then applies this understanding to the Abu Ghraib scandal (Part II). In Part III, implications of the analysis are elaborated, in terms of Zizek's contention that the contemporary "permissive society" engenders in subjects the desire for new forms of mastery or "moral clarity".

Surgical accountability in the 1880s: the death of Susan Nixon

Susan Nixon died in 1881 following a surgical error. Her surgeon, Dr W. E. Warren, excised a normal 7-month gravid uterus under the misapprehension that he was removing a tubular pregnancy. It is believed that Mrs Nixon was the first woman in Australia to have an abdominal hysterectomy and the second to have a live Caesarean section. The surgical misadventure that resulted in Mrs Nixon's death became a public scandal, which gained currency through both parliamentary debate and the popular press.

The purpose of referring to this case is to explore the mechanisms of accountability that surgeons faced in the 1880s − a decade of rapid change in the practice of surgery. The response of late nineteenth century society to surgical error and the resultant reaction of the medical profession have resonances that are relevant to surgeons practising today.

Rugby league: a game in crisis

This study examines the issue of crisis and reputation management strategies in Australian sporting clubs and finds that not only are individual clubs unaware of the potential impact of such crises on their organizations, but that they also have no training, contingency plans, or strategies to handle crises of any sort either at this or at the national league level. It uses the Australian Rugby League organization as a case study f()r examining these issues and concludes with several recommendations for improving crisis management and communications policies in Australian sporting organizations and for their stakeholders.

Many public and private organizations prefer to ignore the reality that "bad things" can happen, either through denial of their vulnerabilities or through myopia about their successes and strengths (Elliott, 2002). A crisis can be defined as any problem or disruption that triggers negative stakeholder reaction and extensive public scrutiny (Newman, 2003). Effective crisis management lies in continuous learning processes designed to equip managers with the capabilities, flexibility, and confidence to deal with sudden and unexpected problems or events (Robert & Lajtha, 2002). Good crisis leaders are those who can make fast decisions under pressure and who can keep the big picture consequences of actions and words in mind when making these decisions 030in & Lagadec, 20(0). In 2004, the Rugby league in Australia was both ill-prepared and ill-advised to effectively deal with a sex scandal involving a number of their players on an official club tour. In classic crisis escalation, what should have been a serious but easily dealt with problem became a major reputational and institutional crisis for the league, its sponsors, its players, and its fans.

The curious case of the Occidental and Regal : the evolution of solvency and disclosure standards in the Australian life insurance industry

In 1990, the Australian life insurance industry was rocked by a scandal that threatened to destabilize consumer confidence in the ability of insurance providers to meet policyholder liabilities. The incident highlighted the nature of the agency problems that arise when conditions of asymmetric information exist. It revealed systemic weaknesses in accounting, solvency and disclosure standards as they applied to life insurers. This article uses an evolutionary concept of agency to analyse government and industry responses to this event. It is argued that initial adaptive responses stabilized the industry and averted a more serious crisis. Longer term innovative responses led to the introduction of a new and more rigorous approach to reporting and solvency standards, which has improved information flows and agency outcomes.

Business ethics and the accounting profession

Business ethics emerged as a major public concern following a spate of corporate collapses during the 1980s and early 2000s, Corporate collapses such as HIH and Harris Scarfe in Australia; Enron, Worldcom and Global Crossing in the US; and Parmalat in Europe, have precipitated questions about the business and accounting practices of these firms and the role played by their accountants and auditors, According to Armstrong et al. (2003, p, 1), one can hardly pick up a business publication today without noting some reference to an accounting scandal....The sheer number of accounting abuses serves as prima facie evidence that something more is needed in terms of accounting ethics.

Scandalous women: gender and identity in top-notch smut

Examining a diverse range of texts offering controversial representations of female sexuality, this paper demonstrates a persistent link between literary scandal and anxieties about women's sexuality. Texts from Madame Bovary (1857) to The Sexual Life of Catherine M (2001) have provoked various arguments, from debates about the need to restrain the unruly bodies of women to contestations about aesthetic merit, morality, and obscenity. Indeed, the scandalous literature of sexual women is distinguished by efforts to reduce its transgressions into something manageable, whether through naming and categorisation (‘chick lit’ and ‘posh porn’), textual analysis, public censure, or critical excoriation. The desire to manage controversial material signifies a discourse of containment that suggests both women and literature require strict control. As this paper will argue, the relationship between women, literature, and scandal is one marked by both intra- and extra-textual efforts to restrain not only the unpredictability and power of female sexuality, but also the unruly energies of literature itself.