Ethics Take A Backseat To Homophobia
The intergrity of the Catholic Church’s media awards are being called into question after a recent incident saw the awards’ ethics take a backseat to homophobia.
According to News.com.au, respected journalist and judge for the awards Murray Nicoll put forward two programs from community broadcaster Radio Adelaide for first and second place. One program dealt with queer aging, the other with women living with HIV.
Several days after sending his recommendations through he was called by a church official, saying that there was a problem.
“The woman told me there was an unwritten rule in the awards structure any entries should be in line with church teachings and principles. To put it another way, it should be in line with the beliefs of the Catholic Church,” says Nicoll.
However, according to the awards website, the gongs “have a reputation for credibility and recognising professional excellence and social benefit”. The website also states that, “the awards are not intended to focus on publicity given to the Catholic Church or religion generally. They seek to recognise reporting which shows a commitment to truth, balance, fairness and community service.”
The Sunday Mail investigated into the matter, and now the Church have decided that the two recommendations will stand, although this decision was made without consulting the church leadership group.
Nicoll has told media that it’s “hilarious in this day and age the church should take that line” and given his own experience in journalism, he wondered what the point of the awards was, if they couldn’t look past church beliefs to see the merit in the actual work. Eventually he felt that he had to resign from his role as judge.
“You can look at it as a continuation of the Catholic Church’s bigotry. They are out of step, they are out of date”.
A Church spokesman Chris Rann said, “We apologise unreservedly to Mr Nicoll, a highly respected journalist, for the inappropriate decision that was made and we sincerely apologise to those who submitted the affected entries. Since their inception, the awards have been made on the basis of professional excellence and social benefit and this will continue to be the criteria.”
Radio Adelaide general manager Deborah Welch told media that she was “incredibly disappointed” on hearing that the programs were to be barred from the awards. After hearing that the decision was later reversed, she felt even more underwhelmed, unsure of whether or not they even want the awards now.
“But we are pleased to know they have embraced their own criteria of truth and fairness,” she said.
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