SMH executive editor Tory Maguire defends newspaper’s arts coverage

The Sydney Morning Herald’s executive editor Tory Maguire has defended the masthead’s integrity after its own art critic highlighted the newspaper’s soft coverage of the sector.

SMH art expert John McDonald. Picture: Adam Hourigan

The Sydney Morning Herald’s executive editor Tory Maguire has defended the masthead’s integrity after its own art critic highlighted the newspaper’s soft coverage of the sector.

The SMH’s art expert John McDonald, who is one of the most highly respected critics in the country and was previously head of Australian art at the National Gallery of Australia, last week unfavourably compared his newspaper’s arts coverage to The Australian’s ongoing investigation into the extent of white involvement in the making of black art in the studios of the APY Arts Centre Collective.

McDonald wrote on his blog that The Australian’s investigation, led by feature writer Greg Bearup, had gone off “like a nuclear explosion in the industry”, adding that the national broadsheet was one of the few media outlets willing to do a big investigative story on the arts. “My own paper, the SMH, has fallen into the trap of feeling it has to be ‘supportive’ of institutions such as the NGA, running a week-long ‘campaign’ to argue the case for more government funding,” he said.

SMH executive editor Tory Maguire.

Greg Bearup, feature writer at The Australian. Picture: Hollie Adams

On April 10, two days after The Weekend Australian uncovered allegations of white hands on black art produced by the APY collective — including a video of a studio manager painting on the canvas of leading Indigenous artist Yaritji Young, who will be featured at the NGA’s upcoming exhibition of APY Lands art — the NGA launched an independent investigation into the matter.

The Nine-owned SMH ignored the story, despite its undoubted significance within the arts sector and its obvious interest to the Herald’s readership.

On Sunday, Maguire said McDonald hadn’t previously raised his dismay with the SMH’s arts coverage with the masthead’s editors.

“John is entitled to his opinion. It’s not something he’s raised with his editors at the Herald,” Maguire told The Australian.

 

“We’re proud of the masthead’s role in securing sustainable funding for our public institutions, including due to our extensive reporting on the National Archives and the National Library’s Trove collection, as well as the NGA – and of our arts coverage across the board.”

In his blog, McDonald said other media outlets had failed their readers by failing to pursue The Australian’s investigation.

“It’s the task of journalism to report truthfully on such matters … If there is deception involved, the media should not make a collective decision to pass over the issue because it’s important to ‘support’ the industry, the NGA, or some other entity,” he said, in a cutting swipe at the SMH.

Like the SMH, the Guardian Australia has largely ignored the scandal uncovered by The Australian, opting to run just one story by wire service AAP three days after the initial story ran on the front page of The Weekend Australian.

Originally published as SMH executive editor Tory Maguire defends newspaper’s arts coverage