I can hear the guffawing in the Channel 9 AFL Footy Show locker room now. "Bewdy Sam," they are saying to Sam Newman, "you're off the hook mate." Oh no he isn't. Just because Tasmanian MP Paula Wriedt's problems are not directly connected to Newman's crude remark about "coming" on her it doesn't mean his behaviour is acceptable, nor does it let Channel 9 off the hook for continuing to employ this neanderthal. I've read comments on other web forums suggesting that Sam is "just being Sam" and we should all just leave him alone. To me, that's just a little bit like saying, "Oh that Adolf, he's so naughty, but boys will be boys." OK, the scale is vastly different but the principle is the same. The issue here is also broader than Channel 9, which should have already shown him the door, because the AFL (like the NRL) has a problem attracting female audiences who are sick of this kind of boorish behaviour from players and ex-players. If they think they can fill the grounds and their coffers solely with Sam Newman clones, then good luck to them. But Nine, as a business that holds one of just three commercial free-to-air TV licenses issued by the government in each major market, has a duty to its audiences and to the Australian public in general to clean up its act. To paraphrase the late Kerry Packer, who was speaking about another bad-taste program, "Get this s--t off the air!"
PS: Read what Jessica Rowe thinks about Newman here.