Both Jim and I frequently
encountered the problem
of public servants
being reluctant and
incredibly slow to
provide material for
government publications which had
production deadlines. Time
after time, promised contributions
did not materialise.
Because of this , we
two journalists worked
as if one-man bands
, and then some
people had the gall
to say we were
turning the publications
into our own
magazines. The monthly
Northern Territory Newsletter ,which I edited , had
been described by
a tutor in journalism
at the Canberra College of
Advanced Education as the best
government publication in
Australia. The Rural News , under
Bowditch’s editorship , had also drawn favourable comment from
farmers and pastoralists.
 |
Galarrwuy Yunupingu , PM Fraser .
|
In the
case of the production of the rural
magazines, previous journalists
associated with the
Animal Industry and Agricuture
Branch had experienced
difficulties. Some officers wanted it to be more of
an occasional scientific
journal with long
thesis-like articles which
might enhance the reputation
of the author
of such pieces
, but bore the
socks off the
target readership . The
idea of it being a
more general publication
designed to help
the average man on the land
was sniffed at .
While some
were keen to
criticise , actually getting a contribution out
of them on
time was considered
a major achievement. In February,
l978, Bowditch wrote a
classic memo to me about
an extraordinary and
angry meeting related
to production of
the rural magazine .
Strange as it may seem , the meeting saw Bowditch in contretemps with his
compadre, Robert Wesley-Smith. The memo read :
There was a meeting
of the editorial
committee of Animal
Industry and Agriculture
Branch concerning Rural
News-Magazine on Tuesday 21 February.
I had expected
that the meeting
would take the usual
course and perform
the function for
which it was
set up : decide on what material
would, or should,
be included in
the next magazine
and allocate the
provision of this
material to various officers of
the branch. Instead of
this, the meeting
was virtually taken
over by Robert
Wesley-Smith who led
a spate of
criticism of the
typography used in the
magazine and the general
method used in
continuing stories which
have to be carried
over onto one or
more other pages.
The method I
use is to
carry the customary “ continued on page
5” and “ continued from page
4”. Mr Wesley-Smith
and some others
insisted that they
found it difficult
to follow the course
of stories and
there was lengthy discussion
on how this detail
of the magazine
could be improved.
There was also
lengthy discussion on
what some members considered
to be unsatisfactory headings to stories despite
the fact that
only one article
in the publication
under discussion had
been provided by
a branch officer .
This was an
article by Clem
Benson on banana
growing for the
home gardener. There
was strong objection
to a sub-head
I had written
which said ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BANANA
The heading was
considered unscientific.
In defending my use
of the
sub-head, I pointed out
the Rural News-Magazine was aimed
at laymen, farmers and the like,
and not at
scientists. The quality
of the contents
of the magazine hardly
rated a mention
except when I
pointed out that
the only published
story provided was from
Mr Benson and
that all the
other articles and
news stories had
either been written by
myself from interviews
or other material
I had gathered.
This included the
VRD and fencing
surveys which came from
two detailed reports
prepared by branch
officers and supplied
to me by
John Hayes. A
story I had
included on BETTER
VALUE IN PORK CUTS
sent to me
by the Australian
Pigmeat Advisory Council
also came under fire. I
pointed out that I
had localised the story
by interviewing Mr Tony
Ryall of
the Darwin Piggery and
Northfood Enterprises and
considered it of
interest to readers.
I was later informed
that a branch officer did not
agree with the views
expressed by the Australian Pigmeat Advisory
Committee and that
he was changing
it in the interests of accuracy . I replied that
the views and the details contained in
the original story could and should
not be changed but
the officer could
write a follow up
article explaining how he sees
the pigmeat situation here . I
would be happy to receive such an article to help
build the upcoming
magazine .
About an
hour after the meeting opened
Mr Wesley-Smith suggested that
Rural News-Magazine should carry
a report on the
beef industry, which
he said was
finished because of government
policy and lack
of action . He
addressed the meeting
on the branch
and departmental inefficiency, the lack
of government policies
and on the
history of the A.I. & A. Branch publications
in the past . He
told how he broke away from
having anything to
do with them following
rejection of an article
he had written
for Rural News -Magazine at
the time of Peter Blake’s term as
editor. While I may well agree with some
of the views expressed by Mr Wesley-Smith, I pointed out that the magazine
could not be turned into a political forum and that my understanding of the magazine was that the aim was to provide help for growers with
problems occurring in their
field and new developments which may assist them . I see the magazine as the branch’s major extension work , setting down
for the information of growers
the work of the
various sections and how this work could
assist the growers.
Bowditch went on to say it had been an extraordinary
meeting and a list of
stories for the next edition had
been drawn up . Going on past experience , Bowditch said he would be fortunate to get , in time , enough stories discussed and
allocated to various officers .
Promised articles for
magazines several editions ago
had not yet been received. There had been requests for individual officers to check and approve headings and sub-headings
on articles . This would be a time
consuming operation and should be left to the
editor , he claimed. Page
proofs could be supplied to the chairman of
the editorial committee for
comment and or correction . The minutes
of an editorial committee meeting held a year previously had noted that the standard of the magazine had
improved under the Bowditch editorship
.
With
Bowditch and I both jousting with the public service and its
infernal workings , it was no surprise then that we occasionally bayed at the moon in bouts of
group therapy . It was only a
matter of time before we both slipped on a banana skin .
Next: Police examine Bowditch underpants!!!!!!!!
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