Anger over the Sydney Morning Herald report on Rebel Wilson’s new relationship has reached the newsroom, with an anonymous employee emailing colleagues saying the newspaper’s reputation was “sinking”.
“Here we are again: our writing has become history,” said the email sent Monday afternoon. He was referring to a February controversy when the publisher, Bevan Shields, erroneously insisted that the shutdown of the train network ordered by the state government was a strike.
“With the ‘strike’ fiasco, we were a national mockery, but now we have attracted international attention,” the e-mail, signed “staff reporter,” said. “You don’t have to look far to find the common denominator in these editorial decisions.”
The anonymous email stated that “our reputation is in the trash” and the writer stated that “management silences us on social media and treats our audience with contempt … what’s the point?”
The email was sent after the Nine-owned SMH withdrew a column on the Australian actor’s new relationship and columnist Andrew Hornery apologized, admitting he made mistakes in his approach to the report. .
Hornery had complained to Sydney’s private column on Saturday that Wilson had been “blown away” when he revealed on Friday that Ramona Agruma was his new partner.
Prior to Hornery’s apology Monday, Shields had written a note defending the piece, saying the document did not rule out Wilson but “simply asked questions and, as standard practice, included a deadline for an answer.”
Several sources sent anonymous email Monday to Guardian Australia. Nine Entertainment declined to comment.
“When I started in the Herald, I was proud to work for a masthead who had such a wonderful reputation,” the journalist wrote.
“This reputation is slowly eroding every day as the newspaper makes seemingly inexplicable editorial decisions. The working staff has been re-paved with the same brush as the editor and we have limited ability to talk about it.
“Many of us would be familiar with colleagues who are instructed to remove posts on social media. If we talked about this, we would almost certainly be disciplined or fired.”
Sign up for an email with the latest Guardian Australia news every morning
Guardian Australia has confirmed that the company’s social media policy is in place and staff are regularly asked to remove social media posts that violate the policy.
The anonymous journalist stressed that the email was not about Hornery who had “acknowledged his mistake”.
They complained that management cried poorly and refused to raise wages in line with inflation, while “extremely discouraged” comments about writer Clementine Ford “cost this masthead $ 39,000 more costs.”
Later Monday, Shields responded to the email by telling staff that his door was always open to anyone in doubt.
“Since I started as an editor in January, I’ve regularly stressed that I’m always available to talk to anyone in the newsroom about anything,” Shields wrote.
“Many of you who have come to me with problems, professional or personal, know that I am a decent and fair person, and committed to the Herald and everyone who works here. We are a great stick leader and in a great position. Obviously I saw the anonymous note sent this afternoon. “
Shields went further in his email to staff than in his note to readers. He apologized for the mistakes that had been made and said that he had requested that Hornery’s column be removed.
He told staff that if Wilson had not responded to Hornery’s email about his new relationship “it would have been impossible to post”.
“That’s a key point,” Shields said. “I am well aware of the dark stain on Herald history through the publication of the names, addresses, and occupations of dozens of people who marched on the 1978 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.”
He said the inclusion of a deadline in Hornery’s email to Wilson was a mistake “because it seemed like an ultimatum.”
“Andrew also acknowledges that the tone of Saturday’s piece was not the right one and today I asked that it be removed from the network. I appreciate Andrew being honest about it.”
An SMH reporter told Guardian Australia on Monday night that “feelings of anonymous email sound true” and “Bevan continues to make mistakes”.
But another Nine reporter said “it’s a difficult show” and “we have to make quick judgments and a wrong call has been made: give it a try.” They insisted that Shields had been “very approachable”.