Wednesday, January 31, 2007
INSTRUCTIONS FOLLOWED
On a break from abusing children, Marieke Hardy discusses journalistic practices:
Some weeks ago I wrote a piece about attending a literary speed-dating event at the State Library …
On the night I was instructed by my editor not to tell anyone I was there to write a piece for the Age lest they clam up and somehow be less ‘real’, which had the odd effect of making me feel like an undercover spy as well as a bald-faced liar …
Hardy and her Age editor appear to have violated the media union’s code of ethics:
Use fair, responsible and honest means to obtain material. Identify yourself and your employer before obtaining any interview for publication or broadcast. Never exploit a person’s vulnerability or ignorance of media practice.
Over to you, Age. Meanwhile, Instapundit has more on journalists who reveal more than they perhaps intend when writing online …