The gold rush continues at the Commonwealth Games, All Blacks defeated and Ian Foster’s job hands in the balance and a New Zealand one-two finish at the latest Indycar race in Nashville – Cheree Kinnear gives the highs and lows of the weekend’s sport all in 90 seconds. Video/Photosport/Sky Sport
Former All Blacks winger Julian Savea has hit out at what he believes has been an irresponsible and hurtful social media backlash against beleaguered coach Ian Foster.
Foster has borne the brunt of criticism over the past month for his team’s historic form slump, with news media, rugby pundits and fans all weighing in with myriad opinions as to what leadership mistakes he may have made.
However, Savea says some of that criticism has gone too far, especially on social media where opinions well outside the realm of Foster’s coaching expertise have been loudly voiced.
“Shocked and disturbed at some of the comments and remarks I’ve seen and heard about Ian Foster on social media lately,” Savea wrote on his Twitter account.
Former All Black Julian Savea says criticism of Ian Foster has gone too far. Photo / Photosport
“In a country where mental health is a big issue, where 72 per cent of suicides are men and a high number of depression amongst men, you would think people would be a bit kinder and think about their words before they make remarks on someone’s integrity , appearance and character, especially when they don’t know them on a personal level.
“I’m ashamed that this is how a human is treated and dragged in the media here in NZ.”
Savea makes his point from a place of experience, having been through his fair share of social media strife; including death threats made toward his baby daughter while playing in France.
That was just one episode from a career he says was full of similar moments, with public judgment and criticism a constant in his time as a professional player.
“Been a constant up and down battle with mental health during my years as a rugby player,” he posted on Instagram in April, 2020.
“From the pressure it brings into my life and personal life to the judgment that is constantly being made about my career.”
Savea’s call for the public to back off when it comes to Foster echoes that of former Scotland coach Matt Williams who said following the side’s series loss to Ireland that the public and media response was embarrassing.
“Ian Foster has suffered far more public criticism and humiliation than any coach should be forced to endure for a sporting defeat,” he wrote in a column for the Irish Times.
“Not for the first time, the reaction to defeat by the New Zealand media and their wider rugby community has exposed a deep flaw of character. The treatment of Foster by his own community has been nothing short of shameful. As a coach, criticism comes with the badge but the personal vilification he has had to endure is simply not acceptable.”
Julian Savea (left) in happier times with Ian Foster in 2012. Photo / Photosport
Foster himself has conceded the criticism leveled towards him is taking its toll, telling media after the first-test loss to the Springboks last weekend that the evidence was plain to see.
“I’m going gray and my hair is receding pretty quickly. It’s never easy,” Foster told media.
He will be hoping, along with millions of New Zealanders, that the All Blacks squad will bounce back on Sunday in their rematch against the Springboks and the social media noise will quieten.
Kyle Chalmers said it took all his strength and courage to win his third gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the men’s 100m freestyle.
It wasn’t his fastest swim, but he said it was “bigger than just me racing”.
“It’s very, very bittersweet. It’s been the most-challenging, probably 48 hours of my swimming career,” Chalmers said.
“And, as much as it’s nice to win, it’s probably just a big sense of relief, rather than the satisfaction that I thought I’d feel and want to feel after a performance like that.”
Chalmers has been the center of intense scrutiny over his personal life, and it came to a head at the Sandwell Aquatics Center a couple of nights ago, where he faced more questioning over unsourced rumors about rifts in the team after winning the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay .
The 24-year-old considered walking away, and admitted he barely slept ahead of the 100m freestyle heats.
But I have pushed on to send a message.
Gold medalist Kyle Chalmers sent a message to the media after weeks of intense scrutiny.(AP: Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“I’ve definitely had big battles with mental health over a long time, and it’s one of the most-challenging things that I’ve had to face and see my teammates face and family face,” he said.
“I think it’s important that people have the courage to stand up and speak about it.
“I’ve been around for a while and I need to create the conversation and try to help people going through similar things and just make it more normal.
“If I can be a positive influence and try to help people in the same struggles, I know that I’m doing my job in the sport and hopefully inspiring people.”
Chalmers was also racing for a special viewer back home.
His brother is in the army and hasn’t had access to his phone, but he was given special permission to watch the race.
“He’s my best mate, someone I haven’t got to speak to a lot over this last little period. And the only reason I was able to have the strength to get back in the pool yesterday for the heat was FaceTiming my brother the night before,” Chalmers said.
“I think, for me, it’s going to be a while to break down what’s just happened,” he added.
“I’m very, very grateful for all the support I’ve had at home, and it’s been very overwhelming how many people have reached out to me and so many high-profile people as well who fight similar battles in their sports or respective fields.”
Kyle’s father, Brett Chalmers, spoke to Mix 102.3 Adelaide after the 100m freestyle medal win, and said Swimming Australia does not do enough to protect athletes from invasive media questioning.
“They failed hugely,” he told the Ali Clarke Breakfast Show.
“To me, it’s the workplace. They’ve got a due diligence to look after their people and their staff and their athletes right from the start.”
The former AFL player became emotional when he was asked about the media furore surrounding his son’s Birmingham campaign.
“If it was in [another] workplace and you kept getting asked the same question over and over and over again, it’s a form of bullying and harassment,” Brett Chalmers said through tears.
“It’s not condoned and it’s not accepted. You’d be pulled into the manager’s office or HR’s office pretty fast and if you didn’t stop you’d probably lose your job.
“These people get away with it. They destroy people’s lives and livelihoods.
Kyle Chalmers said it took all his strength and courage to win his third gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the men’s 100m freestyle.
It wasn’t his fastest swim, but he said it was “bigger than just me racing”.
“It’s very, very bittersweet. It’s been the most-challenging, probably 48 hours of my swimming career,” Chalmers said.
“And, as much as it’s nice to win, it’s probably just a big sense of relief, rather than the satisfaction that I thought I’d feel and want to feel after a performance like that.”
Chalmers has been the center of intense scrutiny over his personal life, and it came to a head at the Sandwell Aquatics Center a couple of nights ago, where he faced more questioning over unsourced rumors about rifts in the team after winning the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay .
The 24-year-old considered walking away, and admitted he barely slept ahead of the 100m freestyle heats.
But I have pushed on to send a message.
Gold medalist Kyle Chalmers sent a message to the media after weeks of intense scrutiny.(AP: Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“I’ve definitely had big battles with mental health over a long time, and it’s one of the most-challenging things that I’ve had to face and see my teammates face and family face,” he said.
“I think it’s important that people have the courage to stand up and speak about it.
“I’ve been around for a while and I need to create the conversation and try to help people going through similar things and just make it more normal.
“If I can be a positive influence and try to help people in the same struggles, I know that I’m doing my job in the sport and hopefully inspiring people.”
Chalmers was also racing for a special viewer back home.
His brother is in the army and hasn’t had access to his phone, but he was given special permission to watch the race.
“He’s my best mate, someone I haven’t got to speak to a lot over this last little period. And the only reason I was able to have the strength to get back in the pool yesterday for the heat was FaceTiming my brother the night before,” Chalmers said.
“I think, for me, it’s going to be a while to break down what’s just happened,” he added.
“I’m very, very grateful for all the support I’ve had at home, and it’s been very overwhelming how many people have reached out to me and so many high-profile people as well who fight similar battles in their sports or respective fields.”
Kyle’s father, Brett Chalmers, spoke to Mix 102.3 Adelaide after the 100m freestyle medal win, and said Swimming Australia does not do enough to protect athletes from invasive media questioning.
“They failed hugely,” he told the Ali Clarke Breakfast Show.
“To me, it’s the workplace. They’ve got a due diligence to look after their people and their staff and their athletes right from the start.”
The former AFL player became emotional when he was asked about the media furore surrounding his son’s Birmingham campaign.
“If it was in [another] workplace and you kept getting asked the same question over and over and over again, it’s a form of bullying and harassment,” Brett Chalmers said through tears.
“It’s not condoned and it’s not accepted. You’d be pulled into the manager’s office or HR’s office pretty fast and if you didn’t stop you’d probably lose your job.
“These people get away with it. They destroy people’s lives and livelihoods.
If you watch the Chinese film One Second on a streaming platform, you won’t see a credit for the author whose book inspired the movie.
That’s because Chinese authorities have successfully erased any mention of globally renowned Chinese-American writer Yan Geling, both in China and overseas.
The movie — directed by celebrated Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou — is available in Australia from platforms including Prime Video, Google Play and Apple TV.
“I can understand if you don’t want to put my name on it because censorship doesn’t allow it in China,” Yan told the ABC from her home in Berlin.
“However, practices like this are not acceptable overseas. The initial spirit and life of a work are given by the original author.”
Director Zhang Yimou directed the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and 2022.(Reuters: Christina Charisius)
Born in Shanghai into a family of artists, Yan – a prolific book author and screenwriter who has won more than 30 literary and film awards and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science – started her writing career in the 1980s.
She has published more than 40 books in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, the UK and elsewhere.
But she is now considering giving up writing in Chinese and writing in English instead.
“If this is a price I need to pay, then I will pay it. There is no other way,” she said.
Yan Geling says she will write her next book in English instead of Chinese.(Reuters: Bobby Yip)
The 63-year-old wondered if she had already been subconsciously self-censoring her writing because of China’s strict censorship practices.
“I think being censored for a long time, one will develop a subconscious of self-censorship,” she said.
“And it will dominate you when you are making words and sentences.”
Prime Video, Google Play or Apple TV were all contacted for comment but have yet to respond.
Self-censorship widespread in China’s film industry
Yan Geling says the film One Second is inspired by her novel, The Criminal Lu Yanshi.(Weibo: @Dianying Yimiaozhong)
Censorship in China is back in the spotlight after the country’s National Radio and Television Administration this month decreed artists should produce more “high-quality works” that “adhere to the correct political direction” of China.
It came after President Xi Jinping ordered the arts industry to “tell China’s stories and spread Chinese voices to strengthen the country’s international communication capacity.”
Yan Geling’s name was banned on Chinese social media after she criticized the authorities for censoring information during the early phases of COVID-19 pandemic.
She later also criticized Mr Xi over women’s rights, after a video of a woman chained in a shed sparked debate about human trafficking in China.
After those public comments, Yan said her name was removed from the credits on One Second, the second movie to be inspired by her novel, The Criminal Lu Yanshi.
Chinese authorities censor any media content that could be considered “disturbing” to China’s stability or to “endanger” the nation’s unity and sovereignty.
Artists have said Beijing purposefully keeps those definitions vague to instill fear in writers.
In films, this can translate to censoring scenes with sexual content, violence or references to politically sensitive issues such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Apart from not crediting her in the One Second film, audiences have said the Chinese filmmakers also removed political references to the Cultural Revolution, essentially self-censoring the script.
It’s not the first-time an adaptation of Yan’s books has been changed.
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She said a 2009 television series based on her novel Little Aunt Crane was censored during production as well.
The ABC contacted China’s General Administration of Press and Publication and One Second’s production company, Huanxi Media Group, for comment but did not receive a response.
Timmy Chen — who specializes in Chinese-language cinema at Hong Kong Baptist University — said self-censorship in China’s film industry was widespread.
Dr Chen said that, if writers did not self-censor, their films might not make it to the screen.
“They self-censor for the sake of investment, audiences and their production team,” he said.
“It would kill a film if they don’t do that.
“It indeed has a big impact on artists.”
Censorship in China is a two-way street: Several Hollywood movies and television series have been changed in the past so the American content can access China’s screens.
China’s box office is the second-largest box office in the world.
Chinese censors tweaked the ending of Fight Club, and also changed clothing logos in Top Gun: Maverick, erasing Taiwanese and Japanese flags from a bomber jacket.
Chinese films need famous ‘dragon code’
In China, 10 censors must watch a film as part of the process to decide if it can be shown to the public.(AP: Mark Schiefelbein)
As Dr Chen explains, filmmakers in China go through a rigorous three-step screening process before a movie makes it to air.
“The first part is your script must pass a review before you can start shooting,” he said.
Once the script is approved by China’s National Radio and Television Administration, a state agency that issues broadcasting licences, then investors, cast members and production teams can get on board and make the film.
Before being released in China, all movies need to obtain this dragon code, or Film Public Screening Permit.(Source: YouTube)
After the film is shot, there are two post-production reviews by the China Film Administration, which approves a film’s distribution and screening in cinemas.
Dr Chen said that this second step enabled films to get a “dragon code”, an official stamp of approval (literally an animated dragon) that is played on screen before the actual film starts.
However, getting the famous dragon code doesn’t mean a film can be successfully screened in theaters.
The third step, called a “technical examination”, requires 10 censors to sit in an in-house theater, and decide if that film can be shown to the public.
Their approval is a collective decision and passing the examination means a film gains at least six votes to get the green light.
Dr Chen said filmmakers were aware that sensitive content could lead to film being scrapped or changed.
“If your film doesn’t reflect the positive energy of the nation, you will have to cut and amend it for another review,” he said.
Yan Geling said she had reached a point where the impacts of censorship on film, and the arts industry more broadly, were too far-reaching.
“If compromise is the price, I’d rather not [write] anything,” she said.
After her name was banned on social media, a fan club with 16,000 members disbanded.
“The hardest thing for me is having to leave my [Chinese] readers, who love me,” she said.
“I guess they don’t want me to compromise either.”
However, she plans to keep writing and is currently working on a book in English for her daughter, whom she adopted from China.
The book will be about China’s One-Child Policy and Yan’s family history.
“I still have some more books down the road that I think are all in my destiny,” she said.
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