Here's what we have for you this week:
- Killer Grabs: The ABC's approach to enterprise bargaining takes a hit, and The Age's Chip Le Grand in hot water with a source.
- The Media Held Politicians To Account During The Iraq War. What Changed? — By Osman Faruqi
- The Good Ones: A new news outlet focused on Palestine + the hockey show better than Heated Rivalry + the everything app is back?
You will have noticed we have been increasing our output since Saturday night's attack on Iran, writing more articles, pushing out more and more stories on our Instagram and TikTok.
We really believe that there is no more important time for a journalist than during a war, and we want to do everything we can to provide responsible coverage, guide you to the best reporting from around the world, and help our audience understand what is really happening in this war.
Journalism still has the potential to expose incredibly powerful stories during times of war, but all too often it has failed that test.
Today, Osman looks at the questions being asked of our government, but more importantly: the questions not being asked.
We would love to hear any ideas or feedback at all, whether it's about the look and feel of it, what you want to read more about from us or how often you'd like to hear from us.
Killer Grabs
"I shouldn't have to answer questions about how I manage my day," — ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks
Marks held an all-staff meeting at the ABC on Wednesday about the broadcaster's latest offer on pay and conditions. He provided the above response to a question about why he had conducted an interview with the Australian Financial Review about management's position on pay before sharing it with staff. You know, the actual people who is supposed to be managing.
The problem is Hugh, that when you're conducting a bargaining exercise that most staff think is an absolute shambles, and you decide to blab to a notoriously anti-union outlet owned by the company you used to run... it kind of is incumbent on you to explain your decisions.
"Anyway, off the record, I have a meeting with AGs [Attorney-General's] tomorrow." – Jason Bosland, Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, in an email to The Age's Chip Le Grand.
Off the record? That seems pretty clear. Just giving Chip some context, not for reporting.
"[The Attorney-General] will meet with University of Melbourne Associate Professor Jason Bosland on Friday" – Chip Le Grand, in an exclusive for The Age this week.
Oh, dear. Bosland was so frustrated, he took to LinkedIn to out Le Grand's usage of off-the-record information.
Making the whole thing worse, the story was actually about the reform of Victoria's court secrecy laws. But this little episode from Le Grand hardly helped the case that the media can act responsibly if they're given greater access to information about criminal defendants.
