Peter FitzSimons, a Sydney Morning Herald star columnist, paid the price this week for rushing to judgment with sparse facts to hand when he penned a column arguing Sam Kerr should lose the captaincy of the Matildas for allegedly “uttering racist epithets”.
“Curveball must cost Matildas captaincy for now” was the headline on the comment piece that ran in print, arguing the news of the Kerr incident came as such as shock because the footballer was a woman, a lesbian and ethnically diverse herself.
“We can safely assume the least likely to utter racist epithets will be those who have suffered racism themselves …” Fitz said. “And yet, we all know what happened Tuesday morning.”
Only we didn’t know. And the column, which was promoted on page one of the paper, was soon overtaken by allegations that Kerr had called the police officer a “stupid white bastard”. Not the type of racist incident Fitz had assumed.
Additions were hastily made to the online version of the column, which was published on the front of the SMH website under the headline “The incomprehensible nature of Kerr’s alleged transgression”, resulting in a confusing read as the bold argument fell apart.
“But from here, without knowing any other circumstances – because we continue to fly blind – if it is, we can surely agree it is on the very lowest end of the scale,” Fitz said belatedly.
Some of the additions were so tortured they barely made sense.
There was initially no acknowledgment on the column that it had been amended to take account of the overnight news.
The Herald’s editor, Bevan Shields, told Beast: “The Herald always tries to note when pieces have had a substantive clarification, and that should have happened in this instance. It was a miss and we have since noted at the end of the column that it was updated post-publication to include the new details about the alleged nature of Kerr’s remarks to the police officer.”
Stan Grant’s new gig
The editor-in-chief of the Saturday Paper, Erik Jensen, announced this week he had hired Stan Grant as a columnist to add to the intellectual life of the paper.
“There are few people who write with Stan’s grace and erudition. He is one of the country’s sharpest journalists, and he brings to his work a great store of intellect and feeling,” he said on the 10th anniversary of the paper.
We wondered what this would mean for Grant’s position as the inaugural director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.
After a bruising period at the ABC, Grant said last year he was walking away from the media after four decades because he wanted to change the toxic global news culture by working on something constructive.
“I’ll be working out of Monash University in a dual role as professor of journalism and director of the Constructive Institute,” Grant told Guardian Australia.
A spokesperson for Monash University told Weekly Beast the launch of the Asia Pacific arm had been “delayed”, but would not confirm Grant’s employment status or explain the delay.
We spoke to the vice-chancellor of Monash, Prof Sharon Pickering, and she too declined to comment.
A few weeks ago, an event with Grant at the Wheeler Centre to mark the official launch of the institute to “interrogate the complexities of our global news culture and discuss how fixing the news can embolden democracy” was cancelled.
Grant confirmed on Friday morning he had walked away from Monash for personal reasons and would file a fortnightly column for the Saturday Paper.
We have noticed Grant is playing himself in an upcoming Australian-filmed comedy feature, Ricky Stanicky, starring Zac Efron and John Cena. From the director Peter Farrelly, who is known for his gross-out films, it’s a strange choice.
Ita’s ABC farewell a muted affair
Ita Buttrose was given a muted farewell by the ABC this week after her legacy was overshadowed by ongoing legal action taken by Antoinette Lattouf, a casual presenter who claims she was sacked due to her political views and her race.
A grand dinner party inside Ultimo’s famed Studio 22 in February, which your diarist was kindly invited to, was abruptly cancelled after invitations had already gone out. Speeches celebrating the former editor’s five-year tenure, as well as her decades-long media career, would sit uncomfortably with headlines about the ABC’s handling of the Lattouf case.
In the week leading up to the planned farewell dinner, Lattouf lost a legal bid to force the ABC to produce emails sent to Buttrose calling for her dismissal.
Buttrose’s last day on Wednesday was marked by a quiet boardroom farewell and an inhouse video address sent to all staff.
MD David Anderson praised Buttrose as “a staunch advocate for the ABC, its staff and the Australian public”.
Parting words
Despite News Corp Australia targeting the ABC almost daily with criticism, if not abuse, Buttrose chose to give her exit interview to a Murdoch journalist from the Sunday Telegraph. In return for recording a podcast with Sarrah Le Marquand, Buttrose was given the superstar treatment and her photoshoot was featured on the cover of Stellar magazine.
Buttrose told Stellar the board had never caved into political pressure and blamed the Lattouf controversy on social media. “I think social media has been the culprit here,” she said. “Everybody feels they must share, God help us.”
Four Corners chalks up a win
Before the ABC Four Corners program about Cranbrook had gone to air, the Australian had branded it a “hit job”. “The ABC is planning a ‘hit-job’ on one of Australia’s most prestigious schools, Cranbrook”, the Australian reported last week.
By Friday, the Oz was looking a bit silly as Louise Milligan’s investigation led to the resignation of the principal, Nicholas Sampson.
Parents of the private Sydney boys’ school were told the board had become aware “for the first time of allegations of an extremely concerning past conduct matter involving a current senior school teacher at Cranbrook”.
Milligan says she has received more legal threats before a program went to air than she has ever had.
“We know of SEVEN legal threats before tonight’s #4Corners Cranbrook story. To: Myself & ABC, People in our program, People not in our program,” Milligan wrote to X.
Behind the scenes the school, which charges upwards of $40,000 a year in fees, had hired corporate spin doctors Gracosway to do crisis PR.
Ironically a former ABC journalist, Brigid Glanville, was the consultant charged with ensuring Cranbrook was shown in the best light. Glanville said Gracosway does not comment on clients.
Next week the ABC’s global affairs editor, John Lyons, will present the Four Corners program The Forever War: inside Israel’s war machine, in which he interviews former prime minister Ehud Barak and cabinet minister Avi Dichter.
Given 51% of all complaints raised by the ABC audience in 2023 related to the Israel-Gaza war, we are sure Lyons can expect a strong response.
