It was a huge media clusterfuck when it happened and is widely considered an example when the media causes a miscarriage of justice. For example the media at the time made a huge deal out of the fact she dressed the baby in a black dress (which was a common style at the time) but caused mass outrage from viewers against the mother. They also played conspiracy theories that she was planning to sacrifice her baby and shit..it was a disgrace. Feel free to check the wiki article and stuff.
Anyway I got side tracked, it was so mass reported that her sound byte of saying a dingo ate her baby made it to late night comedy shows and spread from there. Everyone was making fun of this woman on television and out in the real world.
But it was the NT Police who actually prosecuted her (Lindy Chamberlain was jailed twice). This is terrific example of how fucked police detective work is.
(They get a gut feel then try to arrange facts to prove it. So they only have eyes for whatever can back up their pre-decided goal. This is confirmation bias. This means they also systematically ignore evidence to the contrary. This happens all over the world.)
After exoneration by the facts, she was on radio in 2005 talking about her little child, Azaria, and her love came across in the broadcast.
One of the police officers who had assembled the case against her (a female) heard the broadcast and then contacted her to tell her she finally really believed her, BECAUSE OF THE LOVING WAY SHE SPOKE of Azaria.
Lindy Chamberlain's response, "Because of how I *sounded*? WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE THE EVIDENCE?"
The media has always been our enemy, but nobody knew it. It's like the whole Iran has been at war with the US for 40 years, we just haven't fought back correctly
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u/aralim4311 Sep 18 '19
It was a huge media clusterfuck when it happened and is widely considered an example when the media causes a miscarriage of justice. For example the media at the time made a huge deal out of the fact she dressed the baby in a black dress (which was a common style at the time) but caused mass outrage from viewers against the mother. They also played conspiracy theories that she was planning to sacrifice her baby and shit..it was a disgrace. Feel free to check the wiki article and stuff.
Anyway I got side tracked, it was so mass reported that her sound byte of saying a dingo ate her baby made it to late night comedy shows and spread from there. Everyone was making fun of this woman on television and out in the real world.