Olle Memorial lecture

The Andrew Olle Memorial Lecture was delivered by News Corp Chairman Lachlan Murdoch in Sydney last Friday (18/10).

Murdoch spoke about the necessity for journalists to be aware that good journalism and profits go hand in hand. “Good journalism is good business practice and good business practice supports good journalism,” quoted Murdoch.

He challenged the notion that serious journalism is closer to charity than business and criticised “media elites.”

“Profit enhances the journalist’s craft” as a by-product of good journalism according to Murdoch.

He spoke about the courage of journalists covering the September 11 US bombing and the recent Bali bombing, saying that sort of journalism would not have been possible without profits supporting what would otherwise be loss making newspaper editions.

The 800 strong audience of media elite listening included James Packer, Mike Carlton, and Sandra Sully among the crowd.

What did get intakes of breath was Lachlan’s attack on the Media Watch criticism of links between the Farm Hand appeal and the Telstra sell off. He called the media attacks “narrow minded, jealous, disgraceful and biased”. David Marr watched, bemused. Expect Media Watch to continue the investigation, despite the ABA finding there was nothing wrong with Telstra’s sponsorship of 2GB. (additional reporting thanks to Bob Hughes)