Is there an annual award for foot-in-mouth journalism?

Mr Whale also advised the inquiry the Clarence catchment area was responsible for approximately 20 per cent of the state’s agricultural produce – the value of which exceeded $70 million per annum – and the commercial fishing fleets of Yamba and Iluka were the largest in New South Wales. [The Daily Examiner, 14 December 2010,Clarence groups fight river plan]

Nothing in life is certain, but there is one thing which can almost be guaranteed – any article by one particular regional journalist is highly likely to use language which leaves the reader open to doubt about what the person allegedly quoted actually said.

Who could forget ( :-D) the chagrin created by one recent example of quote confusion which upset both a sitting and a former shire councillor?

This time it is a spokesperson for a Clarence Valley community group who found himself the subject of outright misquotation, as an exchange in online comments below the relevant story in The Daily Examiner highlights:

Posted by indefatigable from Maclean, New South Wales

14 December 2010 11:13 a.m.

In my books this is just an inflated fairy tale, a norm amongst the greenie. As a point, the Clarence 20% of the states agri production, who the heck pulled this one out of la la land. The building of the Jackadgery Dam was mooted about the time the elder of this mob was born, and had the government of the day woken up to the hype and carried on we would now have a complete dam able to help people in the south, north AND the west and our river would be intact. This is a very serious and extremely selfish attitude of Brown's Bunch.

Posted by bertson from Yamba, New South Wales

15 December 2010 10:22 a.m.

You'll be pleased to know, indefatigable of maclean, that the Valley Watch submission does not make the claim attributed to it by the journalist Graham Orams.

What it actually said was “most of the Clarence catchment falls within the 100 km wide coastal strip of New South Wales, an area which supplies approximately 20% of the state’s agricultural produce”. This can be checked online, with all the other submissions, at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee...

In response to Sensible from Tenterfield, the Valley Watch submission also challenges the idea that water is ‘wasted’ if it flows out to sea. The river’s natural rise and fall is never wasteful.

Their submission includes the statement "Floods rejuvenate ecosystems, especially the floodplains and wetlands, ‘freshes’ expand habitat and provide food sources vital for breeding, and the low flows are needed to prevent those species which do best in stable conditions from dominating and creating an imbalance".

Let's get some clear thinking into this debate instead of name-calling and sloganeering.