An open letter to Herald Sun 'journalist' Fiona Hudson
Dear Fiona,
As a journalist, broadcaster and avid consumer and fan of the arts; as someone who has volunteered for numerous arts organisations over the past 20 years; and as someone who is well aware of the positive economic impact our many excellent festivals such as Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Next Wave, Melbourne Queer Film Festival and Big West bring to Melbourne; I feel obliged to say, in response to your article about the City of Melbourne's arts funding program in today's Herald Sun newspaper: shame on you!
By demonising the artists concerned and failing to accurately and fairly present their viewpoints - indeed, it failed to present their viewpoints at all - your article failed to present both sides of the story.
It took a deliberately emotive and biased stance that skewed what should have been an impartial article into a piece of inflamatory and reactionary rhetoric, which appealed only to your readers' most basic and ill-informed opinions and sensibilities.
Have you read the Australian Journalists' Association's Code of Ethics, lately, which recognise 'respect for truth and the public's right for information' as 'fundamental principles of journalism'?
Have you forgotten the very first point of the code that journalists commit themselves to? Allow me to remind you, Fiona. It says that journalists should:
1. Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis. Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply.
Perhaps you need a refresher course in journalistic ethics, Fiona? Or are we to assume that your flouting of the Code of Ethics is deliberate, and your scaremongering equally so? In which case I say to you again: SHAME ON YOU.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Watts
Producer/Presenter, SmartArts, 3RRR FM
Arts Editor, Arts Hub
Arts Writer, Citysearch
Man About Town
As a journalist, broadcaster and avid consumer and fan of the arts; as someone who has volunteered for numerous arts organisations over the past 20 years; and as someone who is well aware of the positive economic impact our many excellent festivals such as Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Next Wave, Melbourne Queer Film Festival and Big West bring to Melbourne; I feel obliged to say, in response to your article about the City of Melbourne's arts funding program in today's Herald Sun newspaper: shame on you!
By demonising the artists concerned and failing to accurately and fairly present their viewpoints - indeed, it failed to present their viewpoints at all - your article failed to present both sides of the story.
It took a deliberately emotive and biased stance that skewed what should have been an impartial article into a piece of inflamatory and reactionary rhetoric, which appealed only to your readers' most basic and ill-informed opinions and sensibilities.
Have you read the Australian Journalists' Association's Code of Ethics, lately, which recognise 'respect for truth and the public's right for information' as 'fundamental principles of journalism'?
Have you forgotten the very first point of the code that journalists commit themselves to? Allow me to remind you, Fiona. It says that journalists should:
1. Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis. Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply.
Perhaps you need a refresher course in journalistic ethics, Fiona? Or are we to assume that your flouting of the Code of Ethics is deliberate, and your scaremongering equally so? In which case I say to you again: SHAME ON YOU.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Watts
Producer/Presenter, SmartArts, 3RRR FM
Arts Editor, Arts Hub
Arts Writer, Citysearch
Man About Town
Comments
I support anything that makes people take notice...and what this person who wrote that article does not account for, is the fact that all these Arts Festvals and displays bring in the tourism, bring in the money, and put Melbourne on the World map. For that, I am pleased.
A CHARITY handed $14,000 so homeless people can produce a cookbook of their favourite recipes.
Imagine how many weeks rent, how many extra beds, how much community housing, how much health care that money could have been spent on - things that have immediate and practical use for those unfortunate enough to be homeless.
As to the cookbook example, I think that publication of homeless people's recipes will have a practical effect in terms of the sense of self-worth it will help generate.
Your concerns that the money could be better spent on practical assistance are valid, but don't forget that we're specifically talking in this instance about funding from the small pool - about 1% of Council's expenditure - that is specifically earmarked for the arts.
There's an entirely seperate pool of funding allocated to social welfare programs. Should that pool be increased? Definitely.
But given the small amount allocated to the arts - a funding pool which was already reduced by 20% last year - I think it's unfair to suggest that the money should be spent on welfare projects.
And besides, there's a long and successful history of art-as-community-building, of which the recipe book is surely just the latest example.
As for funding a cookbook rather than spend the money on other support for the homeless, it all gets down to what the pool of funds was for. Was it for social welfare (ie, homelessness) or was it for the arts, or what? May we could spend a few billion dollars less on the military and we could produce a library of cookbooks.
You called someone working at the Herald Sun a 'journalist.'