Defamation, bigotry and censorship

From the Web site of Michael Danby, Member of the House of Representatives, Wednesday August 27, 2008:

Michael DANBY(9.01 am)-Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation...This is the first opportunity I have had since the last session of parliament and the busyness of yesterday to respond to a story that ran in the Melbourne Age, ‘ALP interest in funds probe', on 21 June 2008. Unfortunately, the Age did not speak to me prior to publishing this article, which implied I was linked to the former Director of the Australian-American Association, Tony McAdam, who is being investigated for fraud.

The central implication of this article is false. In seeking to link me to this alleged fraud, the article states:
It is understood Mr McAdam has assisted Mr Danby on some of his political campaigns.
Far from having any current association with Mr McAdam, I ceased contact with him years ago, prior to the events described in the article.

The Age article suggested I had a defensive ‘interest in the police investigation'. It is quite the opposite. I encouraged solicitors to financially liquidate this organisation if it failed to produce financial reports.

Further, the Age claimed that I retained an influence after 2002 on the Australian-American Association, where I sought to protect Mr McAdam. The article says:
... Mr Danby, a former association president and committee member, retained considerable influence over the organisation ...
To the contrary, I have not been a member of the organisation, involved in its management or attended its meetings since 2002.

During the parliamentary break, I did the normal thing: I sought correction from Mr Jaspan, the editor of the Age, whose response was to quote from a letter to the editor by Mr McAdam. The Age response quotes Mr McAdam:
It is true I have had a long-standing friendship with Michael Danby-
but the Age left out the rest of the sentence, which was-
... although we have not talked for some time.
Mr McAdam also admitted:
He-That is, Mr Danby-has had no involvement with the AAA for many years and to suggest otherwise is quite wrong.

I will leave aside the bigotry identified by Senator Robert Ray when he referred in the Senate to the obsessive focus on me by the back page of the Age. Senator Ray referred to the Age's gossip columnist as:
a sneering anti-Semite kind of journalist that I detest.

I will set aside the fact that the Age has censored every opinion article I have submitted since being elected in 1998. My constituents and the tolerant liberal majority of this country can decide for themselves what motivates this pattern of defamation, bigotry and censorship....

...and from The Australian, by Nick Tabakoff August 27, 2008:

ANDREW JASPAN has been sacked as editor-in-chief of Fairfax Media's Melbourne flagship, The Age....

In a statement to staff still reeling from yesterday's announcement, management said: "The company has decided that for this next critical stage of The Age we would have fresh editorial and executive leadership.” ...

...Yesterday it emerged Antony Catalano, who was the sales and marketing director of The Age, had left the company as it attempts to cut 5 per cent of its workforce. The moves are in response to a tightening advertising market and pressure on newspaper classifieds. Mr Churchill’s announcement follows the revelation by Fairfax’s head of Australian newspapers, Brian McCarthy yesterday that he was taking stock of Fairfax’s Melbourne newspaper operations....

...Paul Ramadge will be acting editor-in-chief.