An Australian citizen and a 24-year-old undergarment model Ms Michelle Leslie was convicted on Fri 18 Nov 2005 in an Indonesian court of possessing illicit drugs and given a three month sentence. Since she had already been in prison for three months awaiting her trial she was released on Sat 19 Nov 2005 and then expelled from Indonesia. She immediately boarded a plane to Singapore.
On Sun 20 Nov 2005 in the news bulletins SBS 6.30pm News and ABC 7pm News her full length pictures in the flight to Singapore and out of prison were shown extensively but in the 10.30pm Channel Ten Late Night News only the upper part of her body was shown and mostly her face. Guess why?
Leslie had it seems converted to Islam a few years ago and the conversion was so personal that she kept it a secret from all but a couple of people. When she was caught in August 2005 with three Ecstasy tablets she of course claimed innocence but started covering her body parts as prescribed by her adopted faith. She appeared in court with a veil and in general covered herself completely.
The first shots of her after her release on Sun 20 Nov 2005 as shown on SBS and ABC were in jeans and a top with her midriff totally exposed. This is a very normal way for girls to dress in Australia so one would say nothing worth mentioning but then I saw the Channel Ten Late Night News and saw that they only showed her face and shoulders. In just three hours the media had started the task of managing her image! They realised or were told by Leslie's PR company that her professed new faith and exposed midriff don't go well together so the media later cut out those shots. This is not just my fancy since already on the morning of Mon 21 Nov 2005 there were reports of protest from Muslim groups about Leslie's clothes and what not.
I am neutral on what the undergarment model Leslie has done and it is not a comment on her behaviour. It is a statement on how media manipulates the images to sell its products of fantasy creation.
Should you ever trust what the media tells you? Never. Add this rapid image management to the Tampa boat tragedy, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and a million other lies the the media and the politicians are more than happy to lay it on unsuspecting citizens. Wake up and never believe the media.