Former ABC journalist Madonna King told Crikey when hosing down speculation about a political future that: "Indeed, because I'm a working journalist, I don't even vote."
Well I, too, am a journalist and I live in the northern NSW state electorate of Clarence, where there’s a by-election this Saturday and I will definitely be making the trip to the ballot box at Coraki Primary School this weekend.
In my career as a newspaper journalist I’ve worked in a fairly broad variety of roles from the small end of the print run, for an independent newspaper based in country NSW, to the larger end, for the national newspaper and all sorts of interesting roles in between. I’ve worked under some really great editors and section editors, all of whom have been professional and ethical. I’ve worked with dozens of committed, clever, experienced and interesting journos and I’ve been a party to some pretty heated conversations about the nature of journalism, ethics and our role in society.
Not once have I ever heard a working journalist say they thought our profession should rule us out of having our democratic say at the ballot box.
The more I think about it, the more ridiculous that statement becomes.
To see if I was on my lonesome I put King’s quote on my facebook page, where I sporadically keep in contact with many of my journalistic colleagues. One abc journo suggested King must have been joking, alluding to the rigours and strictures of the abc’s policy on comment and bias. I can’t rule out that possibility but the context of the quote makes it unlikely:
"I'd never join any political party, and never run for a political party. It's much more fun reporting on them. Indeed, because I'm a working journalist, I don't even vote."
I couldn’t agree more with King’s first two sentences but her third?
It’s ridiculous. What about sports journos? We've heard biased sports commentating but should they vote? How about sub-editors? Fashion writers?
The six comments under the brief piece on Crikey all expressed differing levels of dismay (and one, also, the possibility that King may have been joking).
Compulsory voting is an extremely important facet of Australian democracy and those of us who report on politics are not exempted from participation. We are journalists but we’re also citizens – and we’re no different to people of any other profession or to those with no profession at all in regards to our obligation to our society.
And that includes voting.
One of the (many) aspects of journalism that really gets me shaking newspaper pages and lecturing to the written word (and, yes, I do realise that does about as much good as shouting at the television) is the frequently inflated sense of importance. It leads to false assumptions and bad writing.
Just because we comment on events it doesn’t make our opinions more important than anyone else’s. It’s a privilege to have the access to people that we do – and a crying shame that media management is so pervasive that many are too coached to say anything meaningful on the record any more – and it’s our job to distill what we learn to others.
It’s a great job and I love it. I reported on the reasons for the Clarence by-election, with the Nationals’ Steve Cansdell resigning after he admitted to falsifying a statutory declaration to save his driver’s licence (pity about his career). http://www.echonews.com.au/story/2011/09/22/cansdell-quits-more-allegations-surface/
I've even been attempting to profit off the by-election by pitching on-the-ground pieces to Sydney-based newspapers, although with no luck so far.
But I’d have to be strapped down with my computer cables and phone cords to my desk chair before I’d let that stop me walking through the aisle of Christian Democrats, Nationals, Country Labor, Greens and Democrats supporters so I can participate in our democracy.
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