Walkleys board crumbles after media union hijack

The Walkleys has long suffered from a perception that the awards favour media organisations that are heavily unionised – namely, the ABC, the Guardian Australia, and Nine’s publishing division.

Journalist Adele Ferguson.

The future of Australian journalism’s most prestigious awards, the Walkleys, is under a cloud following the resignations of three independent directors of its organising body, after the trio failed to break the left-leaning media union’s stranglehold over the event.

This year’s Gold Walkley winner Adele Ferguson, along with fellow non-union aligned directors of the Walkley Foundation, senior journalists Sally Neighbour and Victoria Laurie, resigned on Monday after the Media Entertainment. and Arts Alliance rejected the trio’s push to ensure a majority of the organisation’s directors should be independent – a move that was recommended by the ASX Corporate Governance Council as being “best practice”.

The Walkleys has suffered from a perception that the awards favour media organisations that are heavily unionised – namely, the ABC, the Guardian Australia, and Nine’s publishing division.

Last year, the union-led Walkley Foundation further distanced itself from the mainstream when it ruled that it would accept sponsorships only from organisations that offer a “tangible benefit to humanity”.

That led to the cessation of Ampol’s long-running sponsorship of the awards, leaving the event with a financial shortfall. The long-running bid to make the Walkleys more independent was backed by 16 of the nation’s most esteemed journalists from a wide range of media organisations.

In a letter to those 16 journalists explaining their decision to resign, Ferguson, Neighbour and Laurie expressed frustration that the MEAA had not only rejected the proposed reforms, but had sought to further strengthen its control over the Walkley Foundation board.

“MEAA’s proposal would enable the Board – should MEAA so choose – to be composed entirely of MEAA-appointed directors, which, for governance reasons and due to associated risks, we cannot support,” the trio wrote.

“We believe that formal recognition in the Constitution of independent directors and a skills-based board – ensuring directors collectively possess a mix of skills, experience and expertise such as legal, financial and fundraising – is essential to the credibility, sustainability and public confidence in the Walkley Foundation, and is, in our view, clearly in the Foundation’s best interests.”

MEAA president Michael Slezak said the Walkley Foundation board were “disappointed to hear of the resignation of three non-MEAA office holder directors”.

“The MEAA will continue working to ensure a thriving Walkley Foundation … stands for excellence in journalism.”