AFR miss Walkley finals

The AFR has failed to make the final of this year's prestigious Walkley Awards for business journalism. The finalists were announced yesterday with The Australian scoring two of the three finalist positions alongside the Sydney Morning Herald.

Something is seriously amiss at what is supposed to be Australia's premier national business newspaper when they publish six editions a week and can't score a Walkley finals birth. In the past 12 months, senior journalists Jennifer Hewitt, John Durie and Andrew Main have defected to The Australian. Less experienced reporters have also departed and the "cash for copy" web strategy has been a failure. The Walkley snub caps off a shocking 12 months for what should now be regarded as the "thin" review. Let's hope some changes are made in the next 12 months. A good place to start would be to reduce their heavy reliance on syndicated copy and beef up their journalist ranks.

Full credit must also go to The Australian who have significantly improved their business coverage with more pages for both national and international stories and better opinion.