I’m slow catching up with the local news, but this extraordinary article from the Weekly Times Messenger caught my eye:
“Charles Sturt Council has asked media representatives to sit on opposite sides of the chamber’s gallery in each meeting in order to get a different perspective of the debate.
“The council’s staff approached a Weekly Times Messenger Reporter last week and asked her to stop sitting on the same side of the chamber each meeting.
“Charles Sturt CEO Mark Withers said: ‘An inquiry was made whether sitting on both sides of the chamber from time to time they might see a different perspective of the debate’.
“Reporters have been asked to keep a record of which side they sit on and alternate at each meeting.”
Well, it’s hard to know where to start in commenting on this.
I think back to the various council meetings I used to report and most had a designated press desk. A couple of smaller ones actually asked me to sit at the main council table.
Of those that required me to sit in the public gallery, none ever directed me where to sit, nor can I imagine them ever doing so.
I probably would have told them where to go, if they had directed me without good cause, unless the shock overcame me.
What a lame excuse to say the vantage point may offer a “different perspective”.
More likely, one particular councillor doesn’t have line of sight to the reporter and wants to establish that contact.
I thought the paper was very restrained, but correct, in reporting the story matter-of-fact. The headline was excellent (Reporter asked to cross floor).
