The June issue of Quadrant leads with an editorial on the slow suicide of newspapers. The editor, P.P.McGuinness, begins by noting that the most recent victim of the lynch-mob mentality rife in the Australian media has been David Flint, the chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. "He is the chief contemporary villain…. Professor Flint’s deadly sin,it appears, has been his own bias and expressed views… He is being punished for having been an effective leader of the monarchist opposition to the republic referendum…"
There is much more in the editorial which is well worth reading.
So is Frank Devine’s essay on newspapers in the same issue.Reminding all that "people only pay to read newspapers for trustworthy and useful information", he points out that "trust fades when papers pursue causes that aren’t the readers causes." He gives examples, the first being The Australian’s "obsessive promotion of an unacceptable republic model" in 1999.. Quadrant has long demonstrated that it is one of the nation’s leading journals.And now, it is also available on the web: www.quadrant.org.au
Until next time,
David Flint