Peta Credlin has been nominated for a Kennedy award for outstanding current affairs reporting.
It is a controversial pick by the judges as her Sky News Australia report, Unearthing the Full Uluru Statement, was removed by Facebook last year after factcheckers found its central claim – that the Uluru Statement is a 26-page document and not a one-page document – was incorrect.
“The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) has confirmed that the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a one-page document, rebutting claims by Sky News political commentator Peta Credlin that it is 26 pages long and contains ‘hidden’ policies,” RMIT FactLab found.
Prof Megan Davis, a key architect of the Uluru statement, and Jody Broun, the chief executive of the National Indigenous Australians Agency, both firmly stated it was a one-page document.
Sky News was enraged by the decision and claimed that the RMIT team “was responsible for several misleading factchecks against Sky News Australia which led to a censorship of journalism related to the voice referendum”.
Credlin, Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff, Liberal senator James Paterson and the rightwing thinktank the IPA all claimed RMIT FactLab was biased.
Meta bowed to the pressure and temporarily suspended RMIT FactLab, its partner in factchecking social media content on Facebook and Instagram.
FactLab was reinstated two months later.
After her nomination this week, Credlin acknowledged the controversy, congratulating the Kennedys for its “willingness to recognise all sides of the voice debate”.
“Too often media awards only celebrate the views of the zeitgeist but the work I did on the arguments against the voice were critical to an informed and open debate about the biggest proposed change to our constitution in decades,” she said.
Back in the Dore
Also nabbing a Kennedys nomination was Christopher Dore, the newly appointed editor of the West Australian, who was nominated for outstanding columnist for his column, The Front Dore, in The Nightly.
Seven West Media has been recognised for its journalism, with several of its editors and reporters being named finalists in the prestigious Kennedy Awards. https://t.co/i7T1bdiY3A
— The West Australian (@westaustralian) July 29, 2024
The former-editor-in chief of the Australian did not spend too long in the wilderness after being sacked by News Corp after 31 years at the end of 2022.
As well as leading the Australian for four years, Dore edited the Daily Telegraph, the Courier Mail and the Sunday Times in Perth and was deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph before leaving the company suddenly and without a word of praise.
By March this year Dore was back. But this time he was writing for Kerry Stokes’ new venture, the Nightly. He was soon elevated to editor of the West Australian in a Seven West Media reshuffle.
After just 18 months it would appear all is forgiven at News Corp too, as Dore was invited to the Australian’s 60th birthday dinner at the Australian Museum, taking his place alongside former editors Paul Kelly, Clive Mathieson, Paul Whittaker and Chris Mitchell.
Disloyalty tax
There was one editor-in-chief of the Australian who did not receive an invitation to the big bash hosted by Lachlan Murdoch and attended by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the governor general, Sam Mostyn.
David Armstrong, the long-serving editor-in-chief who preceded Mitchell, confirmed he had not received an invitation. So what did Armstrong do to be cast out of the club of former editors? Well he certainly was not sacked, but he did dare criticise the newspaper publicly.
In 2019 he posted on Facebook that he had cancelled his subscription to the Oz: “I thought, do I really need so many rightwing columnists in my life? I know I don’t have to read them all but if I subscribe, I have to pay for them.”
He followed that up by defending former reporter Louise Milligan when the Australian published an editorial attacking her and former ABC journalist Sally Neighbour. Armstrong, who had worked with Milligan, said he was “distressed” to read the editorial and the “heading and the final sentence are defamatory verbal abuse”. Oh and he donated to the Crikey defence fund when Lachlan Murdoch sued for defamation.
Running commentary
A Channel Seven reporter in Adelaide, Hannah Foord, has demonstrated an impressive athleticism, sprinting after a man on stalking charges outside a South Australian court.
Seemingly dressed for the occasion in white sneakers, Foord pursued the man down the street yelling “why don’t you just stop and talk”.
Pacific ‘solution’
Aaron Patrick, a senior correspondent with the Australian Financial Review, is no stranger to controversy – some would say he courts it.
Last year he settled a case brought by Senator Linda Reynolds who alleged he made defamatory statements about her response to Brittany Higgins’ allegations of rape. Earlier his employer removed claims about two female journalists from an article after complaints by the ABC and the Seven Network about the newspaper’s alleged “irrelevant, incorrect and trivialising” portrayal of their employees.
Now Patrick has suggested the answer to the high cost of childcare is importing lowly paid women from Pacific nations.
“A more effective way to lower the cost of children would be to import child carers from the Pacific nations where labour is plentiful and wages low,” Patrick wrote.
“Low-cost domestic help, if properly regulated, would benefit all involved. Especially professional women whose husbands want to pursue their careers too. Why should they miss out on the fun, and tedium, of the workplace?”
Public school ties
In honour of Public Education Week with the theme “Proud to Belong”, the New South Wales education department has released a list of prominent journalists who attended public schools.
The department’s secretary, Murat Dizdar, himself an alumni of Summer Hill public and Fort Street high schools, said it was no surprise to see the depth and quality of Australian media to have come out of public schools.
(1/5) As we prepare to celebrate #PublicEdWeek24 next week, we also want to celebrate some of our incredible alumni. 🎓
— NSW Dept of Education (@NSWEducation) July 30, 2024
The wonderful opportunities and career prospects that public education offers are reflected in what our amazing alumni have achieved. 👇 #ProudToBelong
“The media plays a critical role in a democratic society in holding our institutions to account and exploring and reflecting the cultural issues of the day,” he said.
The list is long but includes Ross Gittins (Newcastle boys’ high school), David Speers (Turramurra high), Chris Masters (Macquarie boys high school), Tony Armstrong (Murray high school), Chris Bath (Holroyd high school), Ashleigh Raper (Manly high school) and Laurie Oakes (Lithgow high school).
Constructive Institute change
It was 12 months ago that Stan Grant resigned from the ABC to become the inaugural director of Monash University’s Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.
In March, Grant confirmed he had walked away from Monash for personal reasons and would file a fortnightly column for the Saturday Paper.
Now the university has appointed new director of the institute, another ABC alumna.
Former ABC news director Kate Torney will take up a professorship of practice in the school of media, film and journalism and, through the Constructive Institute, spearhead Monash University’s ambition to counter misinformation and disinformation.
Torney, who takes up the position in November, was chief executive of the Victoria State Library and CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation after leaving the ABC.
