The weakest link

Do not adjust your hearing aid.

Watchers expecting hear the celebratory popping of corks from the direction of the LawsWatch Cave at the news of Mr Maslin's sidelining from captaining the team at the Chron haven't suddenly gone deaf.

A commenter even suggests that his standing aside makes him the first "victim" of LawsWatch and asks "is that acceptable collateral damage?"

Equally, we could ask whether he's simply yet another victim of Michael Laws, since it's only a matter of a couple of weeks ago that Maslin canned the Mayor's self-indulgent ramblings after they stepped well outside the agreed bounds.

Perhaps the apoplectic Mayoral backlash led the APN coaches to call for a substitution, or perhaps it was too little too late. Only Mr Maslin and his bosses know which, if either, scenario is correct.

There is no doubt John Maslin had to go. He was widely perceived as hopelessly compromised by having kowtowed to Michael Laws far too often. His recent burst of independence came far too late for most readers, who may well refer to the Chron as "their" paper, as APN boss Andy Jarden claimed this morning, but who've grown to doubt its credibility - and not just on Council issues - under Maslin's editorship.

And when tortuosity like this makes it into the newspaper:

"And to quieten the doubters Ms Patrick took the horse by the tail and put it firmly in front of the cart when she said this was the best practice model... but now the audience had a toe in the water and the tide turned..."

...then the Editor's hand isn't on the tiller when the ship navigates the dangerous shoals of journalism, running aground on the reef of cliché. So to speak.

Not to mention letting go entirely unchallenged statements such as "this is the best practice model" when referring to events which caused an entire trust board to resign, have seen a gallery curatorial position disestablished and have put the local arts establishment into an uproar. Whose idea of best practice? What studies or experts support this assertion? What other examples can Ms Patrick offer of an arts facility being "restructured" in this way and emerging from the process better than it was before?

A good newspaper doesn't just regurgitate the words uttered by others, marinated in cliché and boxed by Sudoku, lost animal pics and advertisements. It investigates. It questions. It takes nothing at face value - especially not statements from politicians and public servants.

Editing a newspaper - particularly a provincial daily - is a thankless task. Get it right and at best, no one complains. Get it wrong and everyone does. Unlike the editor of the NZ Herald - and quick, without looking it up, how many can even tell us who that is? - a provincial newspaper editor is recognisable and accessible to his or her readers.

Inevitably, that leads to lobbying from every lunatic with an agenda, who then invents a conspiracy to explain why their tinfoil hat theory has been "suppressed". A Watcher who's held a similar position to Mr Maslin recalls one particularly disgruntled reader endeavouring to climb through his first floor office window, presumably to lodge a complaint.

But when a lunatic with an agenda happens to become the town's First Citizen, the editor's job becomes a difficult and doubly thankless task. Mr Maslin didn't acquit himself well when facing up to the noisily public and more insidious private pressure exerted by Michael Laws - but then, to be fair, not a lot of people have in the past, either.

What the Chronicle now needs - what Wanganui now needs - is for APN to find themselves a senior journalist with not only the experience but also the strength of character that's needed to manage a newspaper in a town where Michael Laws's divisiveness means that not only does he apply unconscionable pressure to the editor, but his opponents are driven to respond in kind. Such journalists are out there, but they're in senior roles and APN aren't exactly renowned for the level of salary they're prepared to offer. And while Maslin may have been the weakest link, but the rest of the chain - a proprietor interested more in money than in quality journalism and an inexperienced, uncritical writing staff - isn't too strong either.

However, as Mr Jarden proudly notes, the Chron is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. The grand old dame surely deserves better treatment from her owners.

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