Letter to the editor: Ethical journalism

Unethical journalism
Ethical journalists usually state somewhere in their article if they have a personal interest in a story they are writing. But it was only when I saw a photo of the Fitzroy Gardens ‘activist’ Michael Gormly in the SMH that I realized that this was the same ‘journalist’ Michael Gormly who writes for Central, and comments so scathingly on the City of Sydney’s plans.

Adherence to common ethical standards in journalism would certainly enhance the credibility of your stories.

Garry Wotherspoon, Darlinghurst

Reply by Michael Gormly: I make no secret of my very public involvement with this issue. Indeed it is very difficult for local news journalists not to be involved with many of their stories when they live, work, shop and play in the very environs they write about. The important thing is that there are no personal or financial benefits, that the stories are factual, and that critics are given a right of reply. I see my job, in part, as challenging the selective and one-sided material that the authorities spread via their multi-million dollar spin machines. Otherwise we would  live in a world of make-believe.