Media war in the west

February 22, 2008, 6:01pm,  177 views

The escalating battle between the West Australian Government and Perth’s only daily newspaper has reached a sorry new level.

According to The Australian, a dirt file on the editor of The West Australian, Paul Armstrong, was leaked to a journalist.

The document is a damning critique of Armstrong’s editorship and gives the mobile phone number of a former reporter it says will claim that Armstrong rewrote a story to make it anti-government.

The day previous, The Australian ran an article quoting academics who criticised The West Australian’s style under Armstrong.

Nobody wins from this sorry state of affairs. The government may have grounds for complaint, but it’s unhelpful to be seen bullying the newspaper and its staff by excluding them from media conferences and targeting the editor.

The compilation of a dossier on an individual (at taxpayers expense), and the leaking of that dossier to a competitor, can’t be condoned under any circumstances.

It’s not healthy for the people of Western Australia to have the State Government and Perth’s only daily newspaper at war with each other.