The Conversation published my article on This American Life‘s extraordinary retraction of their Apple story.

I argue that a free retraction is the best freedom of speech. So I am ambivalent about the Finkelstein report. Australia’s media sector is too densely consolidated to provide true market forces, so forced retractions may seem like justice. But is a petulant, small, “I’m sorry” worth it? The TAL retraction was a brilliant exercise in winning back listener trust by delving deeply into the issues. While the anti-Finkelstein lobby might claim this as a victory for market forces–TAL is directly funded by its listeners–this would be disingenuous. Few Australian media organisations put such faith in their audience.

Read the full article @

Rintel, S. (2012, March 19). What This American Life’s retraction can teach us about the Finkelstein report. The Conversation (Online).