Well sort of. Last week saw the appointment of Melbourne critic and John Lethlean and Epicure’s (the food section of our local broadsheet, The Age) deputy editor Necia Wilden as the co-editors of our local Good Food Guide.
Now Sydney’s man of the sharp knives Matthew Evans has quit Good Living (the food section of the Sydney Morning Herald) as restaurant critic after five years (although it’s not clear if he remains joint editor of the Sydney Good Food Guide). It’s worth reading the article which is a very funny insight into the Sydney scene.
After some 5,000 hours spent in 2,000 restaurants he also leaves with four law suits before the NSW Supreme Court.
“Truth is not a defence in a defamation case,” he said in the SMH. “It doesn’t matter that the risotto was stodgy, the veal acrid or the lettuce manky, the law doesn’t consider the truth when deciding whether a review is defamatory.”
And he’s correct. Australia has really crazy defamation laws. The great thing about Evans’ reviews is that he was prepared to stick the boot in when deserved.
Back in Melbourne our new editors (so don’t kick quit so hard) promise to shake things up a bit (good). And they plan to add more reviews which may or may not be a good thing.
Back to defamation, to date no food blogger has been on the sharp end of a chef’s lawyer. Some have been roasted and not being journalists (who regularly get this treatment) probably don’t enjoy it. There again, many of us are perhaps more polite than we should be when critiquing restaurants.
I wonder if I could draw a parralell with local e-news letter Crikey which fives years ago defamed a local shock jock. Sadly founder Stephen Main lost his home. But the flip side is that the publicity put him on the map and eventually his daily news was bought for AUS1 million.
Could the first food defamtion case be the making of a blogger?
Crikey is the place to look for any local bloggers who would like a guide to writing bitchy restaurant reviews.
Food & Drink. Travel. Est. 2005