A Literary 'Ménage à trois'?
Recently, Bruce Pascoe has received glowing reviews of his book, Dark Emu, by two reviewers, Professor Tom Griffiths, Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University and Rick Morton, Senior Reporter for The Saturday Paper.
Professor Griffith’s essay entitled, “Reading Bruce Pascoe”, was published on-line at Inside Story, on 26th November 2019.
A mere four days later, on 30th November 2019, Rick Morton published his article,“Bolt, Pascoe and the culture wars”, in The Saturday Paper, where he includes a quote from Professor Griffith’s essay:
“Writing in Inside Story this week, Australian National University professor of history Tom Griffiths lauded the book [Dark Emu] and its addition to a long trajectory of scholarly work.”
So, for Mr Pascoe’s supporters, the favourable endorsement of Dark Emu from these two, well respected sources, Professor Griffiths and The Saturday Paper, is enough to prove that Pascoe’s ideas in Dark Emu are accepted as factually correct and true and we, at Dark Emu Exposed, are wrong.
But is everything as it seems here?
We decided to dig a little deeper and this is what we found :
Rick Morton failed to make a Declaration of interest to the readers of his The Saturday Paper article, that his employer, Schwartz Publishing, the owner of The Saturday Paper is also Bruce Pascoe’s publisher (via Black Inc) of his new book, Salt - That is, Morton the supposedly ‘independent’ reviewer is actually employed by the publisher of the author he is reviewing!
Rick Morton failed to make known to his readers, when he quoted Professor Griffiths, that Professor Griffiths himself has had a recent book published by the same publisher, Black Inc, that publishes for Bruce Pascoe and, as we now know, is owned by Morton’s employer, Schwartz Publishing - That is, Morton is supposedly quoting an imminent, independent, academic Professor from the ANU, who we now find also has a book published by Morton’s employer!
More worryingly was what we uncovered on the detailed reading of Professor Griffiths’ article. It appears Professor Griffiths himself failed to make a Declaration of Interest in his ‘laudable’ essay on Bruce Pascoe, given that both Pascoe and he share the same publisher, Black Inc owned by, you know who, Rick Morton’s employer, Schwartz Publishing.
In his essay, Professor Griffiths refers favourably to Mr Pascoe’s most recent book, Salt some six times during the course of his review, but not once does he acknowledge that Salt is published by his own publisher, Black Inc.
This apparent, potential Conflict of Interest by Professor Griffiths is surprising given that he is a very frequent contributor to the highly regarded and respected, Progressive Left website, The Conversation, where we learn that :
“When it comes to conflicts of interest in journalism – whether real, potential or perceived – the rules are usually simple. They’re framed around the principle that audiences (and management) need to know if a reporter, presenter or editor might be influenced by any commercial or personal relationship with another individual or organisation.”
- Martin Hirst, Associate Professor Journalism & Media, Deakin University, The Conversation, 19/6/2015.
Even though we are just members of the general public, it is our understanding at Dark Emu Exposed, that Professors in the academy, journalists and reporters are bound by a professional Code of Ethics, which requires members to disclose to the reader any conflicts, whether they be pecuniary or ethical, that may arise, or be seen to arise, in their writings, in their relationships with third parties, or with the subjects of their work.
For the general public to feel confident that high professional and ethical standards are being maintained within academia and journalism, we feel that both Rick Morton and Professor Griffiths should add Disclosure of Interest statements, where relevant, within their on-line articles as soon as practicable.
Roger Karge, Editor, Dark Emu Exposed
ps: We find no apparent Conflict of Interest here by Mr Pascoe and leave the last words to
Andy Warhol - “One’s a company, two’s a crowd, three’s a party.”
Tom Griffiths is the W K Hancock Professor of History at the Australian National University.
He is published by Black Inc Books
Bruce Pascoe is an award-winning writer and a Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian man. He is a board member of First Languages Australia and Professor of Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Technology Sydney. In 2018 he was named Dreamtime Person of the Year for his contribution to Indigenous culture.
He is published by Black Inc Books
