The Age has urged the Melbourne Press Club board to reconsider its decision to annul the Quill award it gave to journalist Sam McClure in 2020 after it made the decision without giving the media outlet the opportunity to put its case.
The MPC board reviewed and then decided to annul the sports news Quill awarded to McClure in 2020 for a story on an Adelaide Crows’ controversial 2018 pre-season AFL training camp at a meeting last Wednesday.
The MPC told select members that afternoon it would announce the decision on Monday on its website and to embargo it until then but News Corp outlets published a story on the decision on Sunday.
Early this month, The Age settled a long-running legal dispute on a no-admissions basis which included taking down several stories on the camp and publishing an apology.
Age editor Gay Alcorn complained to the MPC last week about the lack of opportunity for The Age to put its case before the decision was made.
She said that the club’s chief executive Cathy Bryson had agreed The Age could submit its views and that they would be considered by the board this week.
Press club sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said several board members were not at the meeting which decided to annul the award, including president Nick McKenzie, who is an Age journalist.
Two board members recused themselves due to potential conflicts of interest in Age journalist Rachael Dexter and Jude Donnelly, the AFL’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Community.
The demand that the board review the award was made by board member Tom Salom, who is editorial business manager at News Corp, publishers of the Herald Sun. After McClure was stripped of the award, it was given to runner-up, Herald Sun reporter Michael Warner.
Neither Mr Salom nor other News Corp representatives recused themselves from board deliberations.
