Following the recent post sparked by the in memoriam notice for journalist John Loizou , who died nine years ago , a January 1980 file emerged about the managing editor of the Northern Territory News, John Hogan , complaining about an item in Scurrilous, a column for political aficionados , in the independent Darwin Star , of which Loizou was editor at the time .
Scurrilous upset Hogan by saying he had decided to set an example for his staff back at the factory (newspaper) by dropping out of the Friday Club, a " select team of Darwin businessmen and upper echelon public servants " who had a leisurely lunch on that day when two editions of the paper-the daily and the weekender- were being produced .
It went on to say : Thoughtfully , Mr Hogan has decided that it is not proper for him to be enjoying the fleshpots while his workers gobble takeaways at their desks and slip out for a furtive shot of the old kickapoo ...if lucky.
Another member of the Friday Club , a top public servant, Martyn Finger, was also reported to be thinking about foregoing the Friday happy hour .
With such selfless men, Scurrilous said the Territory's future was assured.
Hogan, later to become editor of the Townsville Bulletin , responded by writing a letter to the Australian Press Council complaining about the "insulting and abusive comment "- disguised as fact , apparently with the express intention of ridiculing him and disrupting personnel relations at the News.
He believed the author was a member of the Australian Journalists' Association who had committed a serious breach of the AJA code of ethics.
The matters , he submitted, were serious enough to warrant Press Council adjudication. It was pointed out to Hogan the Press Council only dealt with complaints against a newspaper, not the author .
Loizou was sent a copy of Hogan's letter... this resulted in Scurrilous taking another bite out of the Friday Club and the NT News .
It said Scurrilous was busily building a fallout shelter , convinced there will be no peace in our time due to Hogan's response, his letter of complaint run in full .Then it commented that it was amazing that Mr Hogan did not know how the Press Council works.
Scurrilous could be wrong ,it continued ." Is Mr Hogan still attending the Friday Club?" Adding more spice to the luncheon , Scurrilous said it was inclined to write to the Press Council drawing attention to "the moral decadence" displayed at the NT News.
The News , it added, had been accused of running sexist advertisements and not so very long ago , the newspaper had used bits of fishing line to lift the skirt of a young girl so that her knickers could be photographed.
Perhaps it was more a case for the Festival of Light than the toothless Press Council ? It ended : Ho hum.
