On Fairfax

Cameron Bray writes: Re. “Six unbelievable things The Age’s digital editor just said about clickbait” (yesterday). Comedy is all about timing isn’t it. Fairfax’s hilariously shrill howling that they are so not dumbing down must surely have been intended to crash headlong into Paul “Today Tonight‘s ethics are too robust for me” Sheehan’s hilarious fact check breakdown. He can’t be blamed for his farrago of bigot-driven gullibility but what it says about Fairfax is priceless.

Gary Bass writes: Sydney-fication? We’ve had it for years! We just ignore national press. Too often not just wrong, but outdated by months and with no idea who, what or where good things are happening. Look no further than the once proud Education Age. Most case study articles are Sydney — not even NSW — and they are months old, to boot. Victoria continues to lead every aspect of education in Australia, but to read any daily no-one would ever know! Geoff Maslen, all is forgiven!

The nonsense independence/local control proposal from the then-federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne is an excellent example. Victoria went self-governing in 1996 … twenty years ago! Every school interviews and chooses their staff and principal in Victoria. Every school/teacher writes their own personalised course in every classroom. NSW still has a syllabus with everyone on the same page, in the same week. Central command and control. Dawkins started this all that time ago: Victoria was the only one to adopt.

On the Addy

Steven Haby writes: Re. “Media briefs” (yesterday). As a born and bred Geelong lad I am not surprised about the ‘Tiser front page in your Media Briefs section on Thursday 25 February. The Geelong Advertiser aka the Addy aka the ‘Tiser has become more of a running joke than a paper of record since it went tabloid many years ago. The Addy’s descent into tabloid irrelevance underpins this once great city’s slide into yet another suburb of Melbourne, almost like Newcastle to Sydney. Just another commuter suburb. The paper is considered to be more or less an irrelevant nuisance in sleepy hollow which is a pity.