The kids at Melbourne community radio station SYN FM felt the wrath of Gerard Henderson recently.

The journalist fired off an obstreperous email to the Panorama program which airs from 9-10am Monday-Friday after Robert Manne dissed his Sydney Instititute on the program. It seems like SYN FM just found themselves “in the middle of their b-tch fight”, as one person observed.

Crikey understands that Henderson had been invited to attend the program but declined.

SYN FM is run by volunteers, all of whom are under the age of 26. Almost half of the volunteer base of SYN is too young to vote, gamble or drive.

Henderson, whose media monitoring reach is second to none, gave them invaluable training with his “welcome to journalism” missive:

TO
Panorama Assistant Producer
SYN Melbourne
Student Youth Network

FROM
GERARD HENDERSON

My attention has been drawn to a transcript of the Panorama program which you presented on SYN FM on Friday 20 July 2007.

I refer to your soft interview with Robert Manne at the top of the program – where, inter alia, he criticised ABC managing director Mark Scott’s decision to address The Sydney Institute on 16 October 2006, viz:

It was interesting too. He [Mark Scott] took what is a right-wing, not think tank but a right-wing political salon in Sydney.

He took that as his place to launch the new changes.

The Sydney Institute is a forum for debate and discussion – as Professor Manne would know if he followed the Institute’s program which is on its website. His description of The Sydney Institute as a “right-wing political salon” is profoundly intellectually dishonest – as one glance at the Institute’s program would attest. I believe that university academics have a particular obligation to be honest when they are addressing a primarily young audience – SYN FM, for example. I note that on the Panorama program you introduced Robert Manne as “Professor Robert Manne from La Trobe University”.

In the past month, The Sydney Institute has hosted addresses by Prime Minister John Howard, Labor Senator Stephen Conroy, Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd – with Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to follow at the end of July. The following comments were made about The Sydney Institute, viz:

John Howard – 25 June 2007.

I do welcome the fact that The Sydney Institute continues to provide for people of all political persuasions a forum for significant thoughtful addresses and as a result make a very big contribution to public policy debate in our country.

Senator Stephen Conroy – 3 July 2007

The Institute has a long and enviable reputation as a forum for debate and discussion of current affairs in Australia. In fact, you can probably say arguably that this is the premiere forum to float new ideas, controversial ideas and be involved in some good public policy debate.

Julia Gillard – 12 July 2007

It is great to be back at The Sydney Institute. Of course there is some competition in the think tank space these days in Australia – but it’s great to see The Sydney Institute is more than holding its own as the premiere sponsor of events like this one. And I would like to thank Gerard and Anne for the work they do making sure that The Sydney Institute continues to run. I, of course, don’t agree with everything Gerard and Anne writes – but they show a notable commitment toward the traditions of liberal free speech and that’s terrific.

Kevin Rudd – 18 July 2007

The Institute has long been an indispensable part of Australian public life. Just about every debate of consequence is aired in this place at some stage: some are generated here, some are elevated in the general discourse and some – like the subject I will address tonight – take on new shapes.

If Robert Manne did any research about The Sydney Institute he would know that past speakers at the Institute include Tariq Ali, Monica Attard, Mustapha Barghouthi, Andrew Bartlett, Margaret Beckett, Sharon Beder, John Bell, Frank Brennan, Judith Brett, Alison Broinowski, Richard Broinowski, Bob Brown, Sharon Burrow, Helen Caldicott, Greg Combet, Stephen Crittenden, Alastair Darling, Gwynne Dyer, Elizabeth Evatt, John Faulkner, Martin Ferguson, Ross Fitzgerald, Malcolm Fraser, Helen Garner, Petro Georgiou, Patricia Hewitt, Linda Jaivin, Kate Jennings, James Jupp, Paul Keating, Thomas Keneally, Michael Kirby, Marilyn Lake, David Marr, Clare Martin, Wendy McCarthy, Julia McCrossin, Maxine McKew, Hilary McPhee, Frank Moorhouse, Megan Morris, Carmel Niland, Pat O’Shane, John Prescott, Henry Reynolds, Susan Ryan, David Salter, Michael Sexton, Marian Simms, Margaret Simons, Dale Spender, Natasha Stott Despoja, Andrea Stretton, Anne Summers, Lindsay Tanner, Colin Tatz, Virginia Trioli, Don Watson, Gough Whitlam, Margaret Whitlam, David Williamson, Garry Woodward and Neville Wran.

It is unlikely that any of the above would have addressed the organisation which they regarded as a mere “right-wing political salon”.

In fact, a greater diversity of views can be found in The Sydney Papers (which publishes all talks given at the Institute) than in The Monthly (whose editorial board is chaired by Robert Manne). Indeed The Monthly is not even interested in debate and discussion with its readers – hence its refusal to publish a letters-to-the-editor segment in its printed edition.

By the way I noticed that David Tiley, who followed Robert Manne on Panorama, was not corrected by you when he described Mark Scott as “an ex-Murdoch employee who used to be the editorial correspondent for The Australian“. As far as I am aware, Mr Scott has not been employed by News Limited – and he was the former education editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. See his entry in Who’s Who in Australia. I just thought you might like to know this.

Yours sincerely

Gerard Henderson

cc: Robert Manne, Politics Department, La Trobe University, Mark Scott, Managing Director, ABC