Media Diary: Clementine Ford causing headaches for her book publisher Allen & Unwin over Gaza war
This time, it’s not her incendiary book about marriage which has incensed the public — it’s her online activism about the Middle East, and a complete ignorance of history.
Commentator and former Nine newspaper columnist Clementine Ford is causing headaches. Allen & Unwin published her most recent book, I Don’t, but it’s not her argument against marriage which has incensed the public, it’s her online activism regarding the Middle East conflict.
Diary understands the publishing house has received about 16 letters of complaint about Ford and there is now an online petition with more than 2000 signatures calling for Allen & Unwin to “sever ties with antisemite Clementine Ford”.
Ford, who quit her column with Nine newspapers in 2019, and also has a podcast broadcast by Nova, is now a staunch Palestinian supporter.
Not content with posting content calling for an end to the violence in Gaza, she’s gone on the attack with those who disagree with her.
Revealing a basic misunderstanding and a complete ignorance of the history of the Semitic people of the Middle East, Ford – like other social media personalities including Abbie Chatfield – repeats the popular trope that Israelis are white.
She recently posted a missive to “Zionist women” on Instagram calling them: “Enthusiastic supporters of a murderous regime that has been killing children for over 70 years because YOU want to believe YOUR colonising is somehow different.”
And she had told her followers concerned with her anti-Semitic position, that “I don’t care babes” and they “disgust” her.
“Honestly you actually can’t get f..king whiter than that. You are not the victims, especially not when you live in Australia and are globbing on to some kind of bizarre pretence that you are being harmed here,” she said.
Diary has spoken to a number of high-profile creatives who regard themselves as “progressive Jews” who are scared to speak out against Ford’s Instagram statements for fear of retaliation. Some have also written to Allen & Unwin about their “distress and dismay”.
“As a left wing Jew who fiercely supports Palestinian statehood and freedom, I am of the clear opinion that empty, nuance-free, self-righteous polemic such as Ford’s does nothing other than increase divisiveness in society at a time when Jews and Muslims should be joining forces together to eradicate right wing extremism of all kinds,” one letter states.
“Like Islamophobia, antisemitism is NEVER acceptable and by continuing to promote her work, you are choosing to be complicit in the continued degradation of the most reviled minority group in history of which I am a proud, progressive member.”
Community groups have also approached the publisher with their concerns.
“Some of the content brought to our attention appears to be racial in nature. Many Jewish and Zionists do not consider themselves ‘white’ and take offence to being labelled as such. Australia is experiencing a wave of antisemitic attacks The Jewish community is feeling very vulnerable. Many feel that hateful content on social media is fuelling the incidents,” Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory wrote to Allen & Unwin boss Robert Gorman on Monday.
Diary understands the publisher is taking all concerns seriously and has raised the issue with Ford. “Our authors do not represent the views of Allen & Unwin when they make statements publicly or privately. We will never publish material that is hate speech, anti-Semitic or breaches Australia’s racial discrimination laws and any such material is not aligned to the values of our organisation,” an Allen & Unwin spokesperson told Diary.
Ford told Diary any suggestion she is anti-Semitic is “ludicrous”. “I am the granddaughter of a Lithuanian concentration camp survivor whose father was shot and killed by German soldiers and who lost her whole family in WWII.
“In opposing the indiscriminate slaughter of thousands, I not only honour her memory but also stand alongside countless Jewish activists and leaders who have fought for decades for Palestinian liberation.
“Antisemitism is real and we should all oppose it vigorously,” Ford said.
Massola logs off
Some journalists spend way too much time online, but their time wasting antics reached a new level last week when some pointed out national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age James Massola had left X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“It’s belatedly come to my attention that Nine reporter James Massola has left Twitter following the Mark Dreyfus incident. I think this is an incident worth thinking about. It says a lot about the problems with our media, and with our echo chambers,” The Monthly’s contributing editor, and avid and rabidly left-leaning X user, Rachel Withers, said without a hint of irony.
She noted the coincidence between Massola’s lack of activity on the platform and his reporting that the Attorney-General had “lost his temper” at Sky News reporter Olivia Caisley earlier in the month.
“Much of Twitter disagreed, including some high profile accounts,” she said with screenshots of replies from people like Lucy Turnbull.
“James clearly believed such people, myself included, were displaying double standards in defending Dreyfus. James doubled down. James gloated when Dreyfus apologised to Olivia Caisley, as if it wasn’t the media pile-on that had forced Dreyfus to apologise,” Withers rambled.
She pointed out that “James has now deleted his account” and reiterated that this was “a troubling incident”.
In fact, Massola had not been triggered by these keyboard warriors, he has deactivated his account while he is away.
Diary understands the veteran reporter, no stranger to legitimate criticism and the argy-bargy of politics, is just on long-service leave and, you know, enjoying life in the real world.
He’ll be back at work and on X in the new year.
You can be critical of journo junkets, but not hypocritical
Tensions remain high at Nine Entertainment mastheads following the drama that unfolded when some of its journalists signed an open letter calling for newsrooms to treat information from the democratically-elected government of Israel and terrorist group Hamas in the same way.
A major area of contention was the acceptance of junkets – trips paid for by a business or group – to fund journalists to attend events or destinations that in most cases result in stories being filed, Sophie Elsworth writes.
The bosses at Nine’s publishing arm, including The Sydney Morning Herald editor Bevan Shields, The Age editor Patrick Elligett, national editor David King and executive editor Tory Maguire, said in a directive that journalists who signed the letter would be banned from reporting on the war in Israel.
But among the hot topics of discussion at an internal meeting between bosses and staff was why journalists were accepting trips to Israel and how it could affect their reporting.
That is, until it was raised that plenty of other journalists do the same thing in other areas of reporting.
Examples include The Age’s and Sydney Morning Herald’s culture editor, Osman Faruqi, and climate environment reporter Miki Perkins, who quit shortly after the meeting was conducted.
The Faruqi trip discussed was back in May, when he jetted off to Rome for the Fast X film premiere; his subsequent story included a disclaimer he was a guest of Universal Pictures.
Perkins’s August story about her trip to the island of Kioa, notes at the bottom that it was “with the assistance of Greenpeace”.
Journalists having expenses- paid trips to attend such events is not unusual but, if you are going to be critical of junkets, it’s best not to end up being hypocritical.
Another issue discussed was how long journalists need to go on declaring that they have taken such trips when they are writing on the same topic again.
Perkins signed the MEAA’s letter but she did not respond when contacted by Diary, nor did Faruqi.
It’s understood that the policy around disclosure about funded travel, including these examples, left the pair far from pleased and Perkins later announced she had quit to “seek broader horizons” and she would “keep writing about the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis and rapid deterioration of the natural world”.
Maguire told Diary, “The editors at the metros continue to have a lot of open communication with staff about coverage of the war, and the teams’ wellbeing, in a broad range of ways, including one-on-one.
“Our disclosure policy regarding funded travel is well entrenched and continues to be successfully applied right across the newsroom in many different topic areas.”
Earlier this month, The Age and SMH’s national environment and climate editor Nick O’Malley travelled to COP28 in Dubai, but eyebrows were raised after it was noted the “writer’s travel to Dubai was supported by Climate Action Network Australia.”
Shepherding change
The shock announcement by Morry Schwartz that he is stepping down as chairman of his eponymous publishing house, Schwartz Media and away from the day-to-day commercial side of the operations was prompted, at least in part, because the hunt for a new chief executive is over.
It was a decision he told The Australian had no connection to his recent criticism of more than 300 journalists – some who work for Schwartz Media – for signing a controversial petition calling for the same “scepticism” to be applied to Israel as terrorist organisation Hamas when reporting on the conflict.
Schwartz became the stop gap and what he called “an executive chair for a bit” in October after long-serving chief executive Rebecca Costello left the organisation after more than a decade to become The Guardian Australia’s managing director.
Schwartz, which publishes The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and 7am Podcast will welcome former PwC executive Ben Shepherd as CEO, joining a leadership team which includes deputy chief executive Zoe Featherstone and editor-in-chief Erik Jensen.
Shepherd will commence his new role in February as the outlet pushes ahead with plans to scale and expand.
“Ben has a terrific ability to see through problems. He is extremely focused and rational. He understands what we do and is very clear about how to build on it. His energy and experience will help drive the next phase for Schwartz Media, which will be about expanding the reach of our journalism and building the scale of the company,” Jensen told Diary.
Shepherd said: “Schwartz Media is home to the most vital, most respected and most enduring media brands we have in Australia, produced by Australia’s most respected voices.”
Coatsworth call-up
Diary hears feathers are well and truly ruffled inside the Nine nest with the decision by management to call up Dr Nick Coatsworth to host the network’s flagship breakfast show, Today.
Covid made a star out of the epidemiologist, who is now Today’s medical editor. Together with Today reporter and Nine Queensland weekend newsreader Mia Glover, Coatsworth will replace usual hosts Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo for the week from Boxing Day.
“Emma Lawrence will be doing sport and Richard Wilkins doing entertainment,” a Nine spokesman told Diary.
“The summer break is regularly used as a spot to showcase new on-air presenters.”
A TV insider told Diary: “There are plenty of noses out of joint and the hosts – regular and those overlooked for the plum gig – are furious. He’s good talent, but does that mean he can carry three hours of live TV? Who knows. It’s taken a lot of people by surprise.”
Dr Coatsworth has been seen as a maverick in the medical world for his outspoken views on the pandemic. Most recently he rejected calls for the return of mask mandates as a result of a recent spike in covid hospital admissions around the country.
He also criticised the federal government’s tepid attempt at an inquiry into Australia’s response to the health crisis.
Meanwhile, over on Seven, Sunrise host Natalie Barr logged off for the year on Friday – that’s despite her new(ish) colleague Matt Shirvington remaining on air over the holidays.
Union confusion
Confusion abounds as to just who exactly the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance represents.
The union has a number of committees and subsidiaries which look after and “empower” a range of creatives, including journalists, actors and musicians.
However, why is Jesse Noakes, a prominent (and effective) activist a member? To call him a journalist would be a stretch.
He only infrequently pens opinion pieces for outlets like The Saturday Paper and the ABC about his work in the activism space.
His last for the ABC was about why he got rid of his smartphone (hint it wasn’t because he is against the mined critical minerals used to make them) and one for the Nine-owned WAtoday website was titled: “Why I chose to get arrested at our daily newspaper’s Perth offices”.
MEAA declined to comment but Noakes told Diary “the MEAA have been helpful to me personally as a member”.
Noakes is the driving force behind the Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign, the environmentalist squad who got into a spot of bother with the ABC’s Four Corners team when it planned to film a protest at the home of Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.
Members of the organisation, which tips off the media at every turn thanks to Noakes’ savvy PR, has also caused chaos by most recently cementing themselves to 4WDs parked on major roads and inciting other peak-hour traffic style protests.
Noakes’ membership has rankled with many WA-based journalists who struggle to get any information or assistance from the MEAA.
“It is really disappointing that no-one at the MEAA bothers to ask us, those on the ground here, that know the background and backstory of the bullshit this guy does,” one reporter told Diary.
“There is an enormous chasm between journalism and activism, and it’s dangerous when that is closed because when you do things like Noakes does, it cancels out any claim you have to being a journalist,” another said.
It’s just one of the reasons why some fresh faces have nominated for the next MEAA election.
WA-based journalist Kate Ferguson has put her hand up for one of the two federal vice president roles for the media section. She is also WA’s MEAA Media President (the first female to be elected) and serves on the Women In Media committee. Her nomination comes as Diary revealed National Media Section committee member Neale Prior will not run for re-election because of his disgust at the MEAA-backed anti-Israel petition.
The Australian’s David Ross has nominated to be the NSW branch media section vice president, while his colleague, Natasha Robinson, has her hand up for a federal council delegate spot.
Federal media president Karen Percy will go into the election next year as an uncontested candidate for the top job.
Carvahlo leaves Aunty
ABC news presenter Karina Carvalho has quit after 17 years at the national broadcaster and will finish this week, but not without some grievances.
The Sri Lankan-born journalist has worked across the country for the ABC including her most recent role reading the news on its 24-hour news channel from Sydney – she will have her last newsreading shift on Wednesday.
But sources close to Carvalho have told Diary that she had recently become concerned about the ABC’s editorial direction and that some of her colleagues had become activists, instead of remaining objective.
It’s fair to say Carvalho is not alone in having her heightened concerns about activism: just ask former 7.30 host Leigh Sales who has repeatedly given speeches about her disgust at activism journalism in recent months including at the Andrew Olle Lecture in October where she told the audience, “Too often, too many journalists, at all media organisations, are abandoning values espoused by people like Andrew Olle, for various reasons.
“One is that some reporters prefer to be activists and crusaders rather than fact-finders or straight reporters.”
Not bad for someone who gave staff directions via email on how to handle debates about the voice referendum and instructions on how to quash any arguments that Uluru Statement from the Heart was 26 pages, not one.
Despite Carvalho’s grievances, she remained upbeat about her departure and won’t weigh into the issue of the ABC’s editorial direction.
“The ABC will always have a special place in my heart, I’ve been able to meet and work with so many talented people,” she said.
“Now is the right time to venture into the next phase of my career and I’m excited to see what’s around the corner.
“I wish my colleagues at the ABC nothing but the best.”
During her career at the taxpayer-funded broadcaster, Carvalho anchored the 7pm news in Perth for more than three years, hosted ABC News Breakfast alongside Michael Rowland and presented Queensland’s 7pm news.
It is understood that already commercial networks are circling, so time will tell where Carvalho lands next.
The ABC board, led by chair Ita Buttrose, last week published the revised ABC editorial standards, including updating its impartiality standards.
Let’s see how that goes in 2024.
Nick Tabakoff is on leave.
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