The Packer Matriarch

A lot has been focused on the biggest media mogul in Australia - the late Kerry Packer - and the empire he left his eldest son, James Packer. Not enough has been written on his now widowed wife, Ros and her daughter, Gretel.

The SMH reports numerous articles and editorials by various media agents of both the sporting and business world, but little has been commented upon on the state of Ros and Gretel. The only articles I could find at the SMH are the ones reporting on Gretel's approaching marriage (complete with grainy photograph) and an interesting opinion piece on the effect of the late Packer's death on his wife, Ros.

Valerie Lawson's opinion piece is an admirable portrait of the matriarch of the Packer family, commenting particularly on the requisite trait of Packer women 'being tough' because 'they have to be'. The Daily Telegraph on the other hand, lacks any editorial piece on this gendered area in regards to the Packer death. What they do have rather, are countless pieces on the generosity of Packer and glowing reflections on his life. Of course, that's not to say that the SMH hasn't got its fair share of such articles - rather, it seems that the DT has merely focused on the myth that is Kerry Packer and not much else. It is a similar story with the SMH as continuing blogs surrounding the mythology of the Packers become increasing popular (another case of new media in journalism?). The ABC website has little editorial content on the subject of Packer apart from the basic reporting (who, what, when etc) of the Packer and PBL proceedings.

It is probably expected that the reportings on the Packer death is gendered in the focus as Kerry Packer himself more or less epitomised much of the media-business proceedings, a male-dominated industry despite growing numbers of women. Furthermore, the business industry is often painted up to be a 'man's' world, with much of the more domestic aspects of the empire focusing on the women, i.e. the widowed Ros and the heavily pregnant Gretel. There is a greater focus on James Packer, instead, and how he appears to be picking up the reigns to his father's empire with many articles, particularly in Business, devoted to this issue.