Advertisement
âFair cop,â admits the ABCâs resident coronavirus expert Norman Swan. âI probably did cause some vaccine hesitancy.â
Swan is reflecting on months of controversy over Australiaâs vaccine rollout in which he was an active and early critic, sounding the alarm over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca jab and its involvement in a very rare but dangerous clotting disorder.
The doctor is in: Norman Swan has helped millions of Australians better understand the COVID-19 pandemic.
Credit:Nic Walker
In February, federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt batted away a question about whether Swan was Australiaâs leading anti-vaxxer, and Swan says a Coalition MP he knows well texted him accusing him of being âsingle-handedly responsible for vaccine hesitancy in Australiaâ.
How Norman Swan became Australia s COVID-19 reference point
theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How Norman Swan became Australia s COVID-19 reference point
brisbanetimes.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from brisbanetimes.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Angry coverage that often strayed into unapologetic activism came forth from a new, female media leadership: Laura Tingle and Louise Milligan on the ABC, Katharine Murphy and Amy Remeikis at the Guardian, Lisa Wilkinson on Channel Ten, Karen Middleton in the Saturday Paper and a cameo by Jessica Irvine on the Nine Network.”
As Murphy has pointed out, this cohort of reporters is not “new”; some, like Maiden, Tingle and Murphy, have been reporting on politics for decades. Their work is not “activism”, it’s public interest journalism.
Politicians who spoke up include Labor’s Penny Wong, whose words were backed up by her Senate colleague Kristina Keneally: “In these last weeks we have seen extraordinary work by many women journalists, keeping a focus on issues which have too long been unspoken. Dismissing this as a ‘crusade’ or ‘unapologetic activism’ undermines their work and deliberately misses the point.”
AFR hit job on Samantha Maiden backfires spectacularly Amanda Meade
When the Australian Financial Review and senior reporter Aaron Patrick set their sights on Samantha Maiden for what is known in journalism as a “hit job”, one could have been excused for expecting it would do the seasoned reporter some damage. Dig up her work history, delve into her childhood, fling around words like “challenging”, “spiky” and “difficult” and the reporter who revealed allegations that Brittany Higgins had been raped in Parliament House might be cowed.
What the editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, and Patrick didn’t foresee was that what many believed amounted to the bullying of a top female journalist, who has led the coverage of harassment and sexual violence against women in politics, would backfire so spectacularly.