Fairfax journalist Paddy Manning fired over opinion piece
Senior Fairfax business writer Paddy Manning has been dismissed in the wake of penning a 600 word critique for rival outlet Crikey on the company restructure which brings the Australian Financial Review and the BusinessDay sections of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age closer together.
Manning’s tweet to the original piece.
In the piece the experienced reporter, who has previously worked at both The Australian Financial Review and The Australian, described an article in the AFR which was sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank as “a perfect example of why the business sections of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age should not be merged with the Financial Review Group.”
Manning then went on to denounce The Australian Financial Review’s journalism which he argued was “built on a fundamental contract between company and reporter: high-level access in exchange for soft coverage.” He was fired last night.
Last week Fairfax announced a major restructure which sees the business sections of Fairfax metro newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age move under the purview of Brett Clegg, the current CEO of the Financial Review Group.
The move has led to concerns among some journalists that there would be a move towards copysharing between the two publications and that BusinessDay, which is seen as having a more critical view of business than the AFR, might lose some of its independence. Last week Mumbrella reported that at this stage there will be no copy sharing between the two business news desks.
In the Crikey piece Manning wrote about the growth of advertorial content:
“Such creeping advertorial — touted as commercially necessary but also fundamentally ideological in its inevitable pro-business slant — has been noticeable in BusinessDay for at least a year…
“The result has been to cramp space for news, features and the opinions and analysis of BusinessDay’s own reporters and columnists, who are guided by a code of ethics and have no vested interests to push.
“The BusinessDay masthead was pinched from The New York Times but has gradually united the business teams of the Herald and Age, has gelled online and is now head and shoulders above any Australian rival in terms of readership, attracting more than two million unique readers a month…
“BusinessDay writes for the consumer, not for industry. We are not the trade press. With exceptions like Neil Chenoweth that nevertheless prove the rule,The AFR’s business journalism is built on a fundamental contract between company and reporter: high-level access in exchange for soft coverage.”
Fairfax has declined to comment on the both Crikey opinion piece and the dismissal of Manning.
Mumbrella understands the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is representing Manning and that there a stop work meeting this afternoon at The Sydney Morning Herald where the matter will be discussed.
The stop work meeting was pre-arranged and was not called specifically because of the sacking.
1pm update: Crikey reports that Manning was told to clear his desk immediately. It quotes an anonymous journalist as saying: “He had tears in his eyes, he was shaking. He was devastated, absolutely devastated.”
5.30pm update: The MEAA has issued a statement following what has been described as an “emotional” stopwork meeting at The Sydney Morning Herald. The meeting saw three resolutions passed which included: support for fired Fairfax journalist Paddy Manning, a request for Greg Hywood to address staff about the editorial impact of the restructure and staff concerns about “creeping advertorial” and a demand that the full organisation chart for the restructure be provided by the end of the week.
The full text of the union statement can be read below.
Nic Christensen
Statement by MEAA following stopwork meeting at The Sydney Morning Herald this afternoon:
This meeting expresses support and respect for our colleague Paddy Manning and hopes for a satisfactory outcome from negotiations with the company. (CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY)
This meeting requests Greg Hywood to address us about the company’s editorial restructure and the possible impact on the Charter of Editorial Independence in light of suggestions of creeping advertorial. (CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY)
This meeting condemns the company for its failure to consult prior to announcing the latest restructure.
We reiterate the concerns already put to the company about the future employment of business journalists.
We also seek undertakings from the company that editorial judgement will not be overridden by commercial demands.
And we seek clarity about the impact of changes on Domain, Life Media topics and BusinessDay.
We note that a full organisation chart for the restructure is yet to be provided. We demand that it be provided to the union by the end of this week along with the schedule on consultation for the implementation of the restructure. (CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY)
When an experienced journalist comes out kicking against the integrity of his own team you know it is an own goal for the Corporate overseers.
If the press can not report with impartiality, no one who seeks the truth will read them.
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The people running Fairfax have a long history of getting things wrong. It goes back decades. They also resent it when people point this fact out. It is the people who have sacked Manning who are the ones damaging the business, not Manning. He is only the messenger.
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Your average reader can’t easily see the line between Advertising and Reporting, especially when it’s been drawn with a 4B pencil, and blurred to all buggery.
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Damn, I always liked Manning, and I think his coverage of the mining industry has been some of the best in Australia. This isn’t a good look for Fairfax.
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Is Manning correct in his claims? I think so. But it’s either ignorance or arrogance to pen a piece slamming your employer (especially for an erstwhile competitor) and NOT expect to lose your job. Seriously, in ANY field, that’s a sackable offence.
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the silence is deafening
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Sorry Jack B. Nimble but journalists have been making contributions to publishers not their employer for about as long as there have been journalists and publishers. Some print publishers have even encouraged reporters to go on radio and television to have a say. It is not hard to spot them; they are all over the media.
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What’s wrong with Fairfax in four words: Too many Paddy Mannings.
So the Fin finds a revenue source by sticking an advertisers logo as sponsor on a column. Is the sponsor picking the columnist or determining the content? If not, what’s the problem?
What we have here is a media group that is dying in the arse, and the inmates who have run the asylum (“charter of editorial independence”, anyone?) don’t like management doing any actual managing.
Paddy will now have lots of time to go off and share a tent with that hippy who issued the ANZ bank hooxt a month or two ago and with whom he was so sympatico. The now-ex-business journo (who won’t be ex for long, because the ABC will hire him as a matter of priority) can then grumble between mouthfuls of sprouts and lentils how capitalism is destroying everything. That tends to be the view among Fairfax business journalists, which is probably why the investor class has shunned the Age and SMH, and the Fin as well.
Come on, Gina, extract the digit. Firing all those other Paddies will be even more fun than disinheriting a layabout child.
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The perceived need to produce thinly disguised “advertorial” (how dare he use the A word!) / native / integrated advertising is the biggest threat to any publisher’s credibility at the moment.
Ads are hard to sell – advertorial is easier. We need a law that it must be identified: although it usually reads like bullshit, it’s not always easy to spot.
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Indeed, they are indicted by their silence.
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It’s obvious to all that the SMH is taking the coward’s way out.
To sack Manning shows that they are on a sinking ship.
I never would have believed that they would fold so easily to Murdoch’s influence and appease the wickedness he so determinedly represents.
Shame Fairfax.
You are betraying us.
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So that joke we all had about the “sydney mining herald”, that’s going to come true, isn’t it?
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Shame Fairfax, shame.
As one who resigned (before he was sacked) over exactly the same issues in another news organisation, I know exactly where you’re coming from Paddy Manning.
The creeping intrusion of suspect editorial content and puff pieces that bring into question the integrity of all Fairfax media is becoming more obvious by the month. And when one of Fairfax’s own speaks out, they sack him.
Can anyone seriously suggest that a corporation investing in a “sponsored” column would do so if it did not intend to gain an advantage?
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This sad news. Paddy has, in my opinion, written the most important articles on the CSG industry that have been published. I have been stunned a couple of times at the amount of quality research he must have conducted to be so close to the leading edge of that debate globally.
I hope that somewhere the free press still exists, and that Paddy will get to publish again soon and I wish him the very best.
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@Lindsay….sorry but Jack lives on planet business reality .No publishers encourage journalists to go on rival media outlets and slag their employer….
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Bring on The Guardians Australian launch! Paddy I think they just might snap you up sir…
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the irony in this comments stream is delicious
my guess is that the true defenders of the Fourth Estate’s independence are actually too tight to pay for the impartial journalism they so vocally covet
as Paddy has found out you can’t have it both ways – if you work for a commercial organisation, a business, like Fairfax and News Limited – then accept the professional limitations they impose overtly and covertly
if not, work for the ABC.
But don’t stick it up your employer, undermine their already strugggling business and then cry tears when you’re expeditiously punted
if anything demonstrates the lack of business understanding of the so-called business journos at Fairfax, it’s bemoaning Paddy’s dismissal.
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Hooray, Fairfax!
Someone is trying to save the company, so we won’t be stuck with Murdoch drek alone.
Do you really think the way to save Fairfax is to let the Paddies keep on doing what they have been doing? That’s the definition of madness.
When Paddy’s boxes are out of the building, please start on the Greens stenographers who pass themselves off as “environment” reporters.
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But when you bite the hand that feeds you…
And dude have a look around…
It’s not really the time to dishing it out on the company when its chasing its tail so hard its about to pass out. Long live credible journalism but commercial means survival. Rhinehart Media steams ahead from beyond the horizon…
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My heart goes out to Paddy. Although I guess he won’t be coming to work on the dark side (PR).
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Vale, Fairfax.
Manning – give the Grauniad a call.
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The problem with advertorials is the publication is not just selling space; it is also selling its reputation. As a result any journalist associated with an advertorial (like it or not) becomes a spokes person for the advertiser. There are issues related to morals coupled with this practice, which go way beyond making a few dollars for a publisher. Many years ago when newspapers had integrity all copy associated with an advertorial ran without a byline.
It is just incomprehensible an employer would expect a journalists to become a public relations representative for any old advertiser who is so ashamed of their own product they do not want to be associated with their own advertisements.
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Honestly, Manning was deluded to think he wouldn’t be sacked for attacking his own employer in a publication that is not only a would-be competitor in business reporting, but has a long history of throwing mud at Fairfax.
Moreover, it’s not just the Fairfax brand he attacked, but the integrity of his fellow journalists. If he thinks AFR journos are a malleable bunch because they don’t all have the Green politics approach to Big Business and the resources industry that he is known for, then he is doing them a massive injustice.
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I’ve dealt with Paddy Manning professionally, and he’s a decent journo. But speaking as an ex-journo myself, it was seriously naive of him to have penned a piece in a rival media outlet criticising his employer. Red rag to a bull I’m afraid. This wasn’t a passing comment on social media
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Angus, if you look at the history of Fairfax from the 1980s it is management that has been getting things wrong, not the journalists. It started with the decision to buy HSV 7 in Melbourne. It breached the old TV ownership laws and it breached the new one too. It is hard to find one thing that the management at Fairfax has got right since then. On the other hand, the journalists, artists and photographers have been winning prizes for their professionalism every year.
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Geez, self-righteous paddy uses “advertorial” and everyone else does too. Buggar the definition in the dictionary
Let me remind you. If a paper takes money from an advertiser and then fills pages with guff about how wonderful the advertiser is, that’s an advertorial.
Having a company sponsor a column written by a second party about a third party is not an advertorial by any stretch.
I’m actually surprised Commonwealth bank wanted its logo on the column, which was a highly critical assault on Gillard & Co. Banks usually try to avoid open political partisanship.
What it does suggest is that Commonwealth is supporting the column not directing the content. So where’s the problem? Isn’t that what advertisers do?
Seriously, how smart is Paddy to write that sort of bilge under his own name for crikey! and then be boo-hooing about getting the sack. What did he expect, a meal voucher at the lobby coffee shop?
Anyone that dim doesn’t deserve to be working
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He’s right but it’s a foolish ego-driven thing to do. Bagging your employer I wonder how his family is feeling about it all.
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Paddy has a lot of integrity and its good to see that most people on this post have enough of their own to recognise it.
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Angus, you might warn people of your your inability to grasp the importance of editorial independence by wearing with a T-shirt slogan, in French, supporting the billionaire who would put an end to it. “Va Gina!” Yep, fits a complete tool.
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Just took a full subscription at SMH, to try & keep a sinking ship afloat. Maybe I should transfer my $ to Crikey in future. Always enjoyed Paddy Manning’s articles. What motivation is there to pay for advertorial & filler??
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With Paddy conveniently out of the way, I’d like to think Fairfax will go the whole hog and outsource his space to a PR company representing the mining industry. After all, when it comes to editorial independence versus rampant advertorial, let’s have one or the other. Granny half pregnant isn’t a good look.
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I agree with Angus and LOLO, if anyone else in any other industry bagged their employer they would expect to be dismissed or at least dressed down, why do journalists think their employer is any different ?
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SMH this morning has two headlines above the fold. A massive advert for (I have no idea who it was for) takes up all the real engaging space that could entice users in to read the articles.
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Another nail in the coffin of newspapers. And you know the SMH is in trouble when it can’t even pick up the news that Thatcher has died (it aired at about 9.45pm Monday) on its front page. What ever happened to the night desk? What a mess.
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Angus, calm the fuck down. What’s wrong with Fairfax in three words? Too much management. Fairfax actually needs more independently-minded Mannings, not less. Those little baby elephants on the board don’t seem to understand that the journalists are the assets they’re supposed to nurture, protect and grow. The printing presses, distribution networks, technologies? They’re the liabilities.
Good Moron, excellent point. Advertorials, native advertising and what passes as content from most brands and companies is, to put it mildly, shit. Of course, they’re saying exactly what they want to say and think they’re getting their message across. Of course, they’re not. No one cares.
Client, business reality? Really? That’s all you’ve got? What sort of business reality kills the messenger. We don’t all work in a coal mine.
Tim, you’re right. Fairfax should’ve paid Manning a bonus for pointing them towards the truth. Oh, here’s an idea. Pay management MEAA rates and journalists CEO salaries.
NS, conservatives have different brain structures that just can’t handle the future very well. Progressives have more tolerance to uncertainty (bigger anterior cingulate cortex), and conservatives have more sensitivity to fear (bigger right amygdala). 16 peer reviewed studies by researches at (gasp!) universities. It’s not your fault you can’t appreciate the future. It’s just the way your brain is wired.
http://2012election.procon.org.....eID=004818
Real reporting, fuck yeah. Bring on The Guardian Australia ASAP. Let’s have a real newspaper knife fight.
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Stefan Biscotti: I see, like most of you ilk, you can’t go without the ad hom approach to argument. So why does fairfax have the arse out of its trousers with devoted readers like you. I’d suggest
a/ you don’t actually buy any Fairfax product, just barrack for the company because its reporters contaminate the news pages with views you find congenial.
b/ if you do buy Fairfax products, then you’re the reason advertisers spurn them.
Who’d want folks like you in their stores? Cliche-sprouting, greasy-sweatered opponents of conspicuous consumption. Christ, I’d call the cops if you started mooning about in my shop’s aisles. Trouble is, your lot turned out the lights for Earth Hour and you sort of like in the dark
For your next assignment: Sing the praises of Graeme Wood as he blows more and many millions with his local version of the Grauniad. Geez, he’s hired David Marr. What a genius.
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Stefano, you had me at ‘anterior cingulate cortex’…
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Angus, Fairfax has the arse out of its trousers because it is continuing to produce an inferior product. Which will only get worse by attacking/suing/dismissing its own journalists. Think of it as management as cancer.
By the way, bizarro damned-if-I-do-and-damned-if-I-don’t argument. I guess that’s one way to trump an argument.
But onto more important cliche definers. What’s makes you think I’m a greasy-sweatered opponent of conspicuous consumption? I don’t even own any sweaters. I’m more a $400 white shirt kind of guy. Hermès and Zegna are only too happy to open their doors for me.
And no, Angus, they don’t have aisles.
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way to destroy whatever reputation you thought you had, Stefano Boscutti
i don’t think there’s much of a market for a writer who can’t clearly articulate his own thoughts and arguments
(oops, there i am again with my teeny little conservative brain, talking about nasty scary bossy things like ‘markets’)
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Biscotti: words have failed you yet again, I see.
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Angus, your irony kills me.
NS, enough with the neoliberal neoconservative bullshit. Markets? Markets? You seriously think we have markets in this country. Most of what passes for our business class these days is a bunch of risk averse private school fuckwits enjoying the spoils of government mandated (and legislated) monopolies.
Also NS, what do you think my argument is?
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I too can’t wait for the online Guardian ….and would be more than happy to read Paddy’s well researched and balanced articles there….
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Who cares?
He needed to go. Let’s all sign a petition to never ever hire someone who looks after the mining sector like he did.
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Anyone defending the sacking of Manning deserves to have their life savings stolen by a spiv flogging a Ponzi scheme (and spruiked by the best quality Fairfax advertorial money can buy).
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Angus, NS — it’s easy to sling mud from your corner… but if you think your arguments are so great why do you sit behind anonymity?
Props to Stefano Boscutti for putting his name next to his argument.
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