Forthright or fourth grade profession?

The journos ofAustralia face a daunting future as they lose their credibility with the public, but they do have one staunch ally

J.:BY "W, _, LP AYER

f lace, journalists or the people behind the new s, have themselves become front page news. Noc in a positive way, tho ugh. Some senior journalists have already q uit before being p u shed from a major newspaper. Over a thousand of their tribe face the grim prospect of recei ving the sack from the cou ntr y's m a jor newspape r groups in months co come. And the contagion may spread to their country cousins too. The folk who has s u ch a deep-rooted mistrust of these profess ions, that l can frilly understand the low rating received by lawyers an d pollies (most o f who, incidentally, are lawyers) For heaven's sake, wl,y jo urnalisrs? They arc only the messenger s, and not the m:Lnufacturers of news. They are li ke retailers who di stribute the product given to them b y politicians, lobbyists and anrone else with vested interests. lo fact, they carcf,illy examj ne the glossy packages given to them gift-w ra pped by publicists, read between the lines and forensically scr utini se these before putting them o n the public domain for consumers to sec rheir rea l worth. For

The folk who provide food for thought on a daily basis to hundreds of provide food for thoug h t thousands of the general public will be wondering how to put food on the table for on a daily basis to hundreds of thou sands of the general pub li c will be wondering h ow to put food on the tab le for theit own families. Having belonged co that profession all these thankless tasks they ge e a kick in their teeth. f Low unfair to p lace o ur sc ribes 25th o ut of 30 professions covered by the Roy Morgan sw·vey; yet in the US where sensati o nal journalism is the norm, they are ranked much hi gher in the Gallup Poll.