It has to be the ultimate irony that Fairlady editor, Ann Donald, described in the November issue of The Media as the ‘quiet editor”, has bucked at the last fence. She officially resigned in September but was due to leave only at the end of the year. Instead, she left the magazine earlier in protest at not being allowed to run a controversial feature on cellulite creams that named brands.
Donald insists that there are ‘no bad feelings” and is continuing to launch the book that’s been her brainchild, Fairlady’s ’40 Years of Fine Writing”, as well as attending farewell parties in her honour.
‘Media24 management has always supported me in my efforts to publish contentious but important stories,” Donald told eMedia. ‘Thus it was with sadness that we could not reach agreement on my decision to publish a story recently. While each of us could see the other’s point of view, we could not reach a compromise that satisfied us both, and with regret decided that we would part ways earlier than planned.
‘There are no bad feelings, and from my side I am extremely grateful to the company for their support in the past. However, I believe the issue of freedom to publish in the interests of readers should not be compromised by commercial interests and that this is an issue that affects all media owners, advertisers and editors.”
[Donald’s early departure was announced after the November issue of The Media had gone to print. For more on why Ann Donald’s leave-taking was almost the quietest in the magazine’s history, see Sue Grant-Marshall’s piece on page 41 of the issue (out now) – Kevin Bloom, editor, The Media and eMedia]
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