Once more The Daily Examiner allows an unknown person from an unidentified place to request that their name and the town they either live or work in be withheld when his/her letter is published
It is my understanding that the editor has been politely but firmly told by one Clarence Valley resident that his policy of printing anonymous letters is not agreed with – and that anonymous letters of this type are gutless.
I tend to agree with that sentiment and, for all I know the name supplied might be that of someone closely associated with coal seam/tight gas mining company, Metgasco Limited or with the pro-mining NSW Baird Government.
That suspicion has to remain when authorship is deliberately hidden by the editor.
What the approach to the editor last Monday signals is that a newspaper’s credibility is important to those living in its distribution area – without that credibility a newspaper withers.
Is it any wonder that this newspaper’s current Monday to Friday daily print circulation numbers for the twelve months ending December 2013 were still in the doldrums and its parent company APN News & Media Limited (which also puts advertisers rather than readers first) noted in the 2013 annual report that total circulation revenue across its media outlets is still in decline.
This despite the fact that print media is apparently read for news content by more people (14.7 million) across Australia than those who watch television for news content.
This despite the fact that print media is apparently read for news content by more people (14.7 million) across Australia than those who watch television for news content.
Because competition from global or national mainstream digital platforms was never the sole reason that APN newspaper mastheads like The Daily Examiner are struggling.
Who is going to pay good money to read thinly disguised advertorials or anonymous comment like this below?
The Daily Examiner on 28 April 2014:
Just a rabble mob
RE: Saturdays Examiner "Protesters ordered out at Bentley".
Reading this article, and seeing the photo attached, made me remember the same sort of disgusting rabble that protested over logging in the Washpool and Chaelundi forests back in the 1980s.
Same look, same disregard for the common law of the land, same hippy music (presumably) and no jobs.
These people do nothing to help the cause of CSG opponents.
The truth is, these people are anti everything.
To think that good, decent, clean-cut, young men went from our country to die in wars all over the globe, so that this rabble can have the right to make a public nuisance of themselves.
It really does make my blood boil.
Name and address withheld
UPDATE
One local reader sent me an email this morning which began: I saw THAT letter on Monday and was really p*ssed off.
UPDATE
One local reader sent me an email this morning which began: I saw THAT letter on Monday and was really p*ssed off.
1 comment:
Yes the DEx appears to have an agenda, that agenda is supporting only the stories and views of its' major advertising clients; Clarence Valley Council, the larger Grafton based property developers and the Grafton Branch of the National Party, presided over by our very own intellectual giant, the Mayor of Clarence Valley Council. They often completely refuse to publish on-line comments or letters to the editor that question the actions of their key advertising stakeholders.
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