Thanks for your email.

Just because it involves a Jew does not make it a Jewish story per se. As such, the AJN has not reported on the Rene Rivkin saga, among many others.

Were Rivkin, or Rodney Adler, for that matter, elected Jewish community leaders, that would be a different story entirely. But they are not. Hence we have not reported either.

Yours,

Dan Goldberg
National editor, AJN

PS. Apologies for the delay. I’m on deadline and, as you’re probably aware, the Israeli president is in Australia – the first visit by an Israeli head of state since 1986, and only the second in history.

Meanwhle, Jewish foreign correspondent Henry Benjamin writes:

To begin with, you should know that the Australian Jewish News is a JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) client. Secondly, I am not speaking for Dan Goldberg. He is more than capable of speaking for himself if he should choose to do so.

What Crikey needs to do following your assertions that Goldberg may have been gagged is to study the paper in a little more detail. It rarely carries corporate news. I cannot remember any instance when it has tackled a story dealing with those involved in corporate crime.

If you can show me where they ran pieces on the Dolina case, the Rivkin case or the Bart Doff case just to name those recently in the news, then perhaps I might share your assertions that the Adler case received the gagging treatment you allude to.

Henry Benjamin
Australian and New Zealand Correspondent: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New York Jewish Chronicle, London Jewish
Chronicle, New Zealand

CRIKEY: Dan and Henry both make good points, the AJN does not have a history of covering corporate crimes by Jews, however, they do not omit business news altogether. News of Graeme Samuel’s appointment as head of the ACCC was covered, as are the members of the Jewish community who make it into BRW’s annual Rich List, such as Richard Pratt, Frank Lowy and Harry Triguboff.