The Age sacks star columnist Julie Szego after ‘disparaging comments’ over trans article furore
The Age has sacked one of its star columnists after she called out the newspaper over refusing to run her article on youth gender transition.
Media
Don't miss out on the headlines from Media. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The editor of The Age has sacked one of the masthead’s star columnists after she called out the publication over its refusal to run an article she wrote on youth gender transition.
According to The Australian, journalist Julie Szego posted on social media last week that while she had been commissioned to write a feature-length story about the contentious issue by The Age’s former editor Gay Alcorn, the newspaper’s current boss Patrick Elligett refused to run it.
Szego, a freelancer who has written for The Age on and off for more than two decades, then chose to self-publish the 5000-word piece on her own Substack page.
She told her social media followers her new blog will be a site where: “I’ll be writing about gender identity politics … without the copy being rendered unreadable by a committee of woke journalists redacting words they deem incendiary, such as ‘male’.”
Szego later told The Australian that the post about her colleagues at The Age was “a vague and cheeky comment that was not intended to put anyone down”, but it had been cited by Elligett as a reason to sack her as a columnist.
“I love my former comrades at The Age,” Szego said in the exclusive interview.
“I have no bitterness whatsoever, but this issue of gender identity politics is causing tensions in newsrooms around the world and The Age is no different.”
Szego said she believed her story was “measured”, and that despite suggestions to the contrary she does not hold a firm view one way or another on paediatric transition.
Szego also said the fact that she attended the controversial Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne in March had been used as part of a whispering campaign against her.
“I attended the rally, I was conspicuous with notebook and pen,” she said, The Australian reports.
“I attended as a journalist because I wanted to get some colour from the event as I’m hoping to write a book on the wider debate.
“My attendance at the rally caused great suspicion in there (The Age’s newsroom).”
The Australian also spoke to editor Patrick Elligett, who said he explained to Szego why he would not publish the article, and said The Age “continues to cover the issue of gender policy with balance, nuance and accuracy. It is an issue many of our competitors will not touch.”
Szego’s interpretation of that conversation differs.
“Patrick told me he could not publish my piece under my byline because it would damage the reputation of the masthead,” she told The Australian on Sunday.
“I would suggest he’s damaged the masthead more by not publishing it.”
Szego said she received a text message from Elligett last week, informing her that she would no longer be writing for The Age because of her social media post about her “woke” colleagues.
“Obviously we can’t have our columnists publicly disparaging the publication like that so we won’t be commissioning further columns from you,” she claimed Elligett said.
Originally published as The Age sacks star columnist Julie Szego after ‘disparaging comments’ over trans article furore
‘Do better’: ABC sorry after racism review
An investigation into racism at the ABC found current and former staff experienced racial slurs, exclusion and being mistaken for other people of the same race.
‘Do better’: ABC sorry after racism review
An investigation into racism at the ABC found current and former staff experienced racial slurs, exclusion and being mistaken for other people of the same race.