“CityNews” arts editor HELEN MUSA, a highly experienced arts journalist, reveals that “The Canberra Times” is abandoning commissioning specialist arts critics (“purely a cost issue”), preferring to assign its occasional reviewing to staffers. Citynews.com.au will be increasing its reviews.

BACK in the 1920s, there was a joke doing the rounds among Fleet Street tabloid journalists that theatre reviewing was the preserve of “the sports writer on his night off”.

Of course, over a century of expert reviewing in all the arts has followed, but now, in what seems like a flashback to the bad old days, Canberra’s daily newspaper, “The Canberra Times”, has decided to abandon commissioning specialist arts reviewers, preferring to assign its occasional reviewing to staffers.

Its contributors, many with Ph.Ds, masters and lifetime professional experience behind them, are still reeling from the decision, already foreshadowed when the paper jettisoned substantial dance and music reviewing several years ago.

Now books, fine arts, craft, photography and theatre face the same fate and as one visual arts reviewer says: “That’s very sad and disappointing news for all the local galleries and for the artists whose work they show.”

Reviewers, some of whom have attended exhibitions and performances of varying quality  rain, hail or shine for more than 45 years, have been told by a section editor: “We are no longer commissioning reviews in our arts pages… this is purely a cost issue… we are still committed to covering Canberra and wider arts, as well as books and theatre, but we will be doing it mostly in house.”

As a sweetener, the reviewers were also told: “It’s obviously in no way a reflection on your reviews over the years, which we have very much enjoyed.”

It is believed that the decision has come from management, not editorial, and is based on financial considerations, with one literature reviewer told that the cost to the paper of running book reviews on a weekend was $600 of the $1000 they considered  prohibitive.

While the “Times” will continue to run reviews from time to time, they will be written by in-house staff with no specialist knowledge of the art forms they are reviewing, however otherwise educated they may be.

But there is reason to think that the “Times”  does not value reviewing per se.

In another letter, reviewers were told: “It’s more the reviewing itself, rather than the venues and reviewers, that we’re looking over. 

“In our experience (of what readers are drawn to), it’s previews of shows that draw in readers, or our news stories about an interesting aspect of a show (its premise, the artist, a particular piece) rather than reviews.”

This flies in the face of the certain knowledge that Canberra’s highly educated readership knows the difference between a preview (which even at best can incline towards positive puff) and a review, which is a critical analysis of what has happened and a record of the cultural and intellectual life of the ACT.

A staff reporter will have neither the time nor the background to write a cogent analysis of a book, concert, stage show or exhibition, but Canberra is ridiculously full of people who could.

The independent advocacy forum, the Childers Group, whose mission is to promote “independence; objectivity; valuing the arts; and pride in Australia’s national capital city and the surrounding region,” has told me of its “deep concern that ‘The Canberra Times’ is no longer giving the arts the extensive coverage, especially through reviewing, that it has for decades.”

Helen Musa OAM, is the arts editor of “CityNews” and founding convener of the Canberra Critics’ Circle. She was managing editor of “Muse” arts magazine 1990-1996, and arts editor of “The Canberra Times”, 1996-2007.