Since it decided to raise the subject, if the Age thinks that a PM's reasoning on issues Middle Eastern can be clouded by the fact that her partner is employed by a Jewish businessman, then why doesn't it also take a look in its own back yard?
Reporter Paul McGeogh who recently produced some venomous anti-Israel propaganda in the Age over what was clearly a flawed and fraudulent so-called "Free Gaza" flotilla has a Palestinian girlfriend*.
Does the Age believe this might be an issue when he exercises his judgement over what to report when he's covering Israel/Palestine issues?
And is somebody at Fairfax going to look into the liaisons of other staffers who report and provide analysis or have anything to do with decisions on what to report and what not to report in respect of the same conflict?
Just asking?
* The following is an excerpt from Crikey’s "Tips and Rumours" section, from the 18-Sep-2009 edition:
"Fairfax’s veteran war reporter Paul McGeough may be entering a whole new type of conflict after leaving his wife, Walkley Award-winning business journalist Pamela Williams, for a Palestinian woman many years his junior. McGeough, 55, went to Washington earlier this year to promote his book about Hamas and became captivated by the long, dark tresses of the youthful Nadia, whose family live in Ramallah on the West Bank.
"McGeough has been lobbying to replace Jason Koutsoukis as the Fairfax Middle-East correspondent for some time and the word is that although the SMH (his Fairfax tribal home) is willing, The Age has still not agreed. The issue for Age editor Paul Ramadge, apart from McGeough’s legendary expense claims, is how to deal with questions of objectivity and balance when one’s correspondent is in bed with one side of the conflict (so to speak)."
Personally, I don't endorse Crikey and I'm not interested in who McGeough or Koutsoukis for that matter, sleep with but I think the Age deserves to be questioned on these matters now that it opened up the Pandora's Box and made a front page issue of Ross Burns' mudslinging.
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3 comments:
What a laugh.
The Age worrying about a reporter's balance and objectivity?
What happens at a newspaper when a Palestinian activist edits the foreign news? Do you get balance and objectivity then?
Any bad news about Hamas? The PA?
Thanks for the laugh.
If a newspaper espouses certain standards then it should live by them. McGeough's credibility and position as a reporter of events in the region is zero.
"If a newspaper espouses certain standards then it should live by them. McGeough's credibility and position as a reporter of events in the region is zero."
In that case, he's a certainty as next cab off the rank when Koutsoukis leaves the job.
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