The editor of The Age has sacked one of the masthead’s star columnists, Julie Szego, after she took aim at the publication over its refusal to run an article on youth gender transition.
Last week, Szego posted on social media that while she had been commissioned to write a feature-length story about the contentious issue by the newspaper’s former editor Gay Alcorn, The Age’s current boss Patrick Elligett refused to run it.
Szego, a freelancer who has written for The Age on and off for more than two decades, subsequently chose to self-publish the 5000-word piece on her own Substack page, telling her social media followers about her new blog: “I’ll be writing about gender identity politics … without the copy being rendered unreadable by a committee of woke journalists redacting words they deem incendiary, such as ‘male’.”
“I love my former comrades at The Age,” Szego said.
“I have no bitterness whatsoever, but this issue of gender identity politics is causing tensions in newsrooms around the world and The Age is no different.”
Szego also said the fact that she attended the controversial Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne in March had been used as part of a whispering campaign against her.
“Patrick told me he could not publish my piece under my byline because it would damage the reputation of the masthead,” she said on Sunday. “I would suggest he’s damaged the masthead more by not publishing it.”
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Yes I agree not publishing it more damaging Sorry The Age has been bought glad you published on your stack Julie
Rotten editors! Refer them to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights re freedom of speech.
Thanks for your courage, Julie, and I’m sorry it’s cost you so much.
Stay strong! Barbary Clarke
Julie’s 5000 word article was very well-researched, very thorough and not strident. It was simply good journalism.