Impartial love
We tread some fine lines, here at the Star, particularly when it comes to Mardi Gras and elections. Elections and Mardi Gras bring the voracious news hounds and conspiracy theorists of the gay and lesbian community out onto the streets and into the bars. And, it seems, whatever we at the Star do, we’re never critical enough, or kind enough.
I get a running tally of our perceived sins from my staff journos who venture out into no-man’s-land to have a bit of a break at the end of the working week. Often -“ especially at this time of the year -“ they’ll come in on Monday morning with a story of someone who had a go at them in a bar after a few too many drinks.
According to these keen volunteers, news-watchers and random drunkards, the Star hates Mardi Gras, or loves Mardi Gras too much. We love The Greens, or we hate The Greens. We hate the major parties, or we love the major parties too much. We are all things, apparently: too conservative; too radical; too confrontational; too relaxed; pro-marriage; anti-marriage; Sydney-centric or globalised.
Phew. No wonder I’m feeling a bit tired. Maintaining that much contradiction can be exhausting. But, as I’m not feeling particularly pithy this week, I might as well use this column to set three broken records straight.
-¢ The Star does not endorse any political party. If political parties do good things, or bad things, for or to the gay and lesbian community, we report on them.
-¢ The Star‘s letters to the editor are not selected because of political views or pro- or anti-Mardi Gras bias, or commercial interests. Thanks to our fantastic readers, we receive many more letters per week than we can publish. Letters are selected for clarity or relevance or humour or any number of other reasons. They’re never not printed because we want to stifle our readers’ opinions. Want to have a go at us? Go for it.
-¢ The Star is not silenced by its media partnerships. We write stories about whatever is newsworthy.
Anyway, I’m always happy to cop criticism during business hours. Especially if it means the Star‘s staff can have a knock-off drink in peace.
