Do ordinary Australians really care any more? I suspect not

SCHAPELLE Corby is back in Australia after spending the last thirteen years in an Indonesian prison. She flew into Brisbane yesterday.

The predictable media fren- zy surrounding Corby commenced a few weeks ago.

Corby once again became front page news. Newspapers were filled with “special reports” on the Corby saga. Members of Corby’s family started popping up regularly on television. Cheque books were no doubt extracted from bottom drawers in anticipation of securing an “exclusive” interview with her.

Do ordinary Australians really care about Schapelle Corby?

I suspect not – or at least not as much as media companies think. In fact, the cheap sensationalism which is at the heart of stories like Corby’s no longer resonates with readers and viewers as it once did.

Corby is no longer the seemingly innocent, attractive 27-year-old Australian who was detained at Bali airport all those years ago, and it is more difficult for us now than it was then to believe in her innocence. The world is a grimmer place and more serious topics – like Islamic terrorism – command our attention.

Cheque-book journalism and the blatant greed which underlies it is less appealing these days. “Cocaine Cassy,” a much more sordid version of Corby, recently had her fleeting 15 minutes of fame and has quickly disappeared back into

well deserved obscurity. The Corby saga is really a grotesque kind of reality television program, and the appetite for such programs is waning. People no longer find appalling people behaving appallingly entertaining.

Having said that, however, there is still something quintessentially iconic about Schapelle Corby. Her image resonates with Australians.

For all her manifold faults, Corby symbolises youthful Australian innocence treated unfairly and unjustly by foreigners. (And she was treated unfairly. Even if guilty, 13 years is a barbaric sentence for possession of a small quantity of marijuana).

The fact that the Corby myth bears little or no relationship to the grubby reality underlying it – including all the stupidity, the publicity seeking, the lies, and the greed – doesn’t seem to matter at all. And it is Corby’s symbolic importance – rather than any intrinsic merit in her story – which explains why the media interest in Corby has revived and will continue for some time yet – long after “Cocaine Cassy” is completely forgotten.

Social media will also ensure Corby stays in the spotlight. She opened an Instagram account yesterday and already has more than 130,000 followers.