At least journalists at The Australian called before they conducted their hatchet jobs the other day. Fairfax Media gossip columnist Joe Aston didn’t bother to pick up the phone for today’s knife job on yours truly.
Failing to call the subject of your insults before publishing is not just cowardice, it’s a matter of basic journalistic protocol. Journalists are required to make the phone call in order to allow their subjects to respond – and get the facts straight.
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The AFR has never disclosed its commercial relationships with CPA’s rival Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand. And where is the coverage of the chief executives of other peak bodies such as the Minerals Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia, the Property Council, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA)?The answer to this question is that the coverage of these organisations is there in the finance press all the time … in the guise of shuffled words from their endless stream of press releases. PR fluff.
The mainstream finance press has lost it. While the CPA has been running big surpluses under Alex Malley, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review have both been making losses. They are beholden to the big end of town and hardly try any more, except when there is a second-tier scalp to be had.It is lily-livered and it is a sad abrogation of the duty of journalists and editors to hold power to account.
Then there is the hypocrisy. While flagellating Malley week-in week-out for being paid too much and failing to disclose his pay, Joe’s own boss, Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood, was secretly gifted millions in share options.
The AFR is probably not the best place to source independant financial information.
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