As noted yesterday, the Guardian persuaded 56 newspapers around the world to run its Copenhagen climate summit editorial, but no major titles from the US and Australia.
Australian media blogger Margaret Simons commented that Melbourne-based The Age’s explanation for not running the editorial was rather different from the Guardian’s. Contrast and compare:
The Guardian deputy editor Ian Katz:
“Another Kyoto holdout is also unrepresented: both the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age dropped out of the project after climate change convulsed Australian politics, demanding, they felt, a more localised editorial position.”
The Age:
The Age was invited to take part in the global editorial but declined. Editor-in-chief Paul Ramadge said yesterday: “We applaud The Guardian’s global initiative. At The Age we decided it was important to put our own views – to be consistent and partly because of the nuances of the debate in Australia.”
Answering a letter from one its readers today, the Age (owned by Fairfax) argues it did not ‘pull out’:
The Guardian reports that two Australian newspapers, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, pulled out of this historic initiative because the election of Tony Abbott as Opposition Leader has recast the debate about climate change in this country. Fairfax Media, please explain.
Peter Stroud, Keilor East
■ EDITOR’S NOTE
The Age did not pull out of an agreement to publish the editorial written by The Guardian. We expressed support in principle for the project but decided it was important to put our own views in a page 1 editorial.