Senator Conroy on Insiders
By Margo Kingston
March 21, 2013
Stephen Conroy said on Insiders
In his evidence to the Finkelstein Inquiry into media standards, Professor McKinnon… said:
“One editor jovially once remarked that he would rather double his annual contribution than have a complaint upheld.”
Headline: Labor uses doctored evidence to grab state control of the media
How despicable – and hypocritical. The deceitful Gillard Government itself doctors a quote to justify its attack on the free press…
That word “jovially” was omitted by the Government when it tried to argue it had reasons for demanding state control over the press…
A joke by an editor is presented by Conroy was a serious proposal. And it is done by Conroy omitting a crucial word.
Official Finkelstein inquiry transcript, 16 November 2011, page 48
McKINNON: However, I have had an editor say to me, “If you promise not to uphold any complaints from my paper, we will double our subscription. Is that a deal?” It was said over lunch, but the irritation, the consideration about personal reputation drives people more than money in that circumstance.
Thank you to Jacob Stam (@stamja) and Matthew from Canberra for alerting me to this matter.
