Naive and inaccurate
Andrew Podger’s article ‘Fairness and balance’ in P&I reporting on the Middle East (November 19) is naive and inaccurate.
Full disclosure: I have written for P&I since November 2022; I operated as editor for six weeks between August and September this year.
Podger thinks P&I is a news publication. It is not. Publisher John Menadue has clearly described it as a public policy journal.
Yet he criticises P&I for not separating news from opinion – something which is the norm for news organisations. He expects P&I to follow the conventions of the Australian Press Council when it has no obligation to do so.
Podger expects P&I to cover both sides of an issue, something expected of news publications. P&I has no such obligation.
He fails to notice that when P&I articles refer to news, there is generally a link to a news source. Else, the news is current and it is reasonable to expect readers to know this.
Podger mentions the number of Mideast articles published by P&I forgetting the region has been in the news for donkey’s years.
He thinks trouble in the Middle East began in October 2023; the Israeli-Palestinian stoush has been alive since at least 1948.
Contributions to Pearls and Irritations
Your contribution will fund quality independent comment and analysis in Pearls and Irritations
Contribute
