www.smh.com.au

Online editor blurs lines on independence

David Higgins, the editor of news.com.au, News Limited's news websites, was quoted in an article as describing the traditional and immutable divisions between advertising sales people and journalists as "luxury of the past".

Quoted in a recent issue of the journalists' union magazine The Walkley Magazine, Higgins said students of journalism needed to study the business of media in order to better understand the industry.

While he acknowledged the importance of independent reporting, he went on to make comments that appeared to indicate News Limited was prepared to take account of advertisers' wishes when it made editorial decisions.

"The extremes with which [the separation of church and state] was applied in the past are a luxury that perhaps we cannot afford any more," Higgins said.

Journalists now need to be proactive in working with the sales people, give sales people a bit more leeway and say 'I can work with this, but I can't work with that'. It canno longer simply be the responsibility of the salespeople to come up with ideas.

Higgins, a former Fairfax journalist, declined an opportunity to clarify his comments, and a spokesman for his publisher, News Digital Media, also refused to be drawn into commenting.

A spokesman for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Jonathan Este, said the independence between the two arms was paramount especially as readers were faced with greater choice online, much of it from news sources that lacked credibility.

Mike van Niekerk, editor-in-chief, online, Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, said a plethora of new advertising formats had pushed the boundaries but that editorial managers  and not journalists  must keep a watchful eye on ensuring they remained in place.