The Wire

There’s a storm brewing over at Fairfax about the decision of Melbourne newspaper The Age to endorse a Coalition election victory last week. According to insiders who tipped off Crikey.com, The Age was all set to endorse the Labor Party until Fairfax management stepped in. Fairfax stablemate the Sydney Morning Herald declined to endorse either party, causing further speculation that they were also pressured not to endorse Labor. Fairfax editors have strongly denied these claims. The Wire spoke to Steven Mayne, Editor of Crikey.com.au, who first broke the story; and also Professor Mark Pearson who teaches Media Ethics at Bond University and edits the Australian Journalism Review, who says this phenomenon isn’t new.