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Walkley Foundation defends award changes as backlash grows

The Walkley Foundation has been forced to defend last week’s decision to drop the International Journalism category from its annual awards.

Anger at the decision to drop the foreign reporting prize along with those for Interview, Artwork and Journalism Leadership has been growing since the announcement last Friday.

Prominent objectors to the decision include the ABC’s US correspondent Zoe Daniel, former Fairfax columnist and Vietnam War reporter Mike Carlton along with the winner of 2014 Walkley Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism, Peter Greste, who was imprisoned by Egyptian authorities while reporting for Al-Jazeera.

The anger on Twitter was reflected on Facebook where plans to publish an open letter to the organisers developed, led by senior ABC journalist Sally Sara and UTS academic and Fairfax columnist, Jenna Price.

“It diminishes the importance of international reporting,” Price told Mumbrella this afternoon. “We have to have the world view – we have Brexit, we have Trump, we have Syria, we have catastrophe after catastrophe so why should we rely on the reporting of others to give Australians a view of these issues?”

“We still have quite a few representatives and we have quite a few representatives reporting on international issues from Australia. We saw Jess Hill do a fantastic job covering the Arab Spring. It’s not as if you are only reporting from the field. It’s ludicrous to suggest these things should compete with local stories.”

The proposed open letter says the following:

“To the Walkley Advisory Board,

We wish to express our disappointment over plans to scrap the Walkley Awards’ International Journalism category.

Now, more than ever, international reporting is a vital part of Australian journalism.

Reporting overseas also comes with specific risks and challenges. It is not exclusively the domain of foreign correspondents – some of the most memorable reporting has also been delivered by Australian-based journalists on assignment overseas.

The major international journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, all include a category for international reporting.

We ask that the Walkley Board reverse this shortsighted decision.

Yours sincerely,”

In response, the Walkley Advisory Board’s current chair Angelos Frangopoulos and outgoing office holder Kate McClymont, posted a statement on the organisation’s website, explaining the reasoning behind the decision as the organisers struggle with an unwieldy list of categories.

“The decision to cut the International Journalism category was not one made lightly, and should not be taken as a statement that we value international journalism less. These stories are critical to our understanding of the world. Foreign correspondents often risk their safety and Australia has a long and proud history of international journalism.”

The decision has more to do with the fact that international journalism can be entered in any Walkley Award category — and these stories frequently win.

Price however disagrees, worrying that international stories will not get the same weight as local pieces should they compete in the same category: “You’re always going to vote for the thing that’s in your close context,” she says

“Having an Australian voice telling international stories is really important,” Price urged.

Sally Sara told Mumbrella she hopes to have an open letter to present to the Walkley Foundation in the next few days. The Foundation was approached for comment but had been unable to respond by the time of publication.

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