Nick Leys
SYDNEY (The Australian / Pacific Media Watch): An open letter from 35 journalism lecturers across the tertiary sector accuses The Weekend Australian of "shooting the messenger" in a hotly debated feature article on the state of journalism schools in Australia.
"Finkelstein report: media's great divide", published on Saturday, examined how an ideological divide between what is taught in journalism schools and the way journalism is practised in newsrooms was allowed to colour the findings of the federal government's Finkelstein media review.
The letter is also critical of an accompanying editorial, "It depends on who you talk to".
The review, aided by several journalism academics including Matthew Ricketson and Denis Muller, called for greater regulation of the industry, a view strongly rejected by publishers.
"If the Australian public believe the current accountability system for the press in Australia to be satisfactory (self-regulation via the Australian Press Council), this inquiry would never have happened," the letter says.
"Judging from their own submissions to the independent media inquiry, the newspaper owners and their associations believe there is nothing wrong with the status quo. Indeed, the vast majority of their submissions avoided any serious discussion of trust and accountability issues."
The letter, signed by academics including Margaret Simons (Melbourne University), Dr Lee Duffield (Queensland University of Technology), Associate Professor Anne Dunn (University of Sydney) and Professor Chris Nash (Monash University), condemns The Weekend Australian article as "attack-style reporting" rather than "engaged conversation" on the Finkelstein review.
"A statutory media regulator would be problematic, and this is acknowledged by many of those cited in your article," it says.
"If you had contacted for comment all of those named in The Weekend Australian story, a richer, more complex and hence truer picture would have emerged." The letter suggests the government's Convergence Review offers media companies a chance to engage in "serious, constructive discussion about how to strengthen the independence and authority of the Australian Press Council".
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Pacific Media Watch
