Censorship at the Sydney Writers Festival
A prominent journalist, Wendy Bacon, has been banned from appearing at this year’s Sydney Writers Festival. Bacon, also a professor of Journalism at the University of Technology, says the ban relates to her involvement with the student paper that used to cover the writers festival- “The Festival News”. Last year the student journalists and staff working on the paper claimed they were censored, when the paper was temporarily banned for comments unfavorable to the state government (a large sponsor of the event). The Writer’s Festival Director- Wendy Were- says there was an agreement between UTS and the festival that the paper was a “promotional and marketing activity”. Wendy Bacon maintains that none of those involved- students, staff editor or herself- have ever seen this document.