The local papers of NSW have a long history of publishing pro-clubs, pro-poker machines articles that are heavy on sensationalism and light on facts. That’s no surprise given that the clubs industry across the state is a major source of support and advertising revenue for such publications.

But when the story involves someone like Peter Garrett, the Federal School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Minister, then the big guns get involved. And this morning’s story in The Daily Telegraph is a prime example.

The article, Peter Garrett Losing Big On Pokies, is nominally about how clubs in Garrett’s electorate of Kingsford Smith are upset at his continued support for poker machine reform. In reality, it’s a biased swipe at Garrett that follows to the letter the Clubs NSW directive of attacking Labor MPs at every opportunity.

Garrett recently distributed some political pamphlets in his electorate. Nothing unusual about that. But this has prompted an indignant response from local clubs, in particular Randwick Labor Club. RLC president Ken Murray described the pamphlet-drop as a “particularly nasty attack on the club industry and poker machines,” and strongly suggested that there would be no financial support for Garrett from the RLC at the next election.

Murray’s angry response was reported faithfully in the DT; what was not reported was the content of the pamphlet. It was a fairly standard political pamphlet, detailing Labor’s achievements in the area. It also contained a list of facts about problem gambling in Australia and a brief explanation of the government’s proposed poker machine reforms, as well as the statistic that Kingsford Smith residents spend over $175,000 a day on the pokies.

The only part of the pamphlet that mentioned clubs was this statement:

If Clubs Australia don’t think the reforms will work, why are they running a $40 million scare campaign against the Government’s reforms?

Don’t take my word for this; the pamphlet is here, on Garrett’s website. Take a look for yourself.

There’s nothing “particularly nasty” about this pamphlet, especially when you compare it to the pamphlets distributed by Clubs NSW and Clubs Australia that explicitly target specific Labor MPs and suggest that they are not interested in supporting the community. Or the full-size posters of local MPs in clubs and pubs around NSW that carry the same message. Or the regular media releases that attack anyone who dares to support poker machine reform (such as December’s effort which labelled Tim Costello a hypocrite with delusions of moral superiority).

Yet not only did the DT report Murray’s statement without providing any details of the pamphlet that triggered it, they also included this quote from walking sound-bite and Clubs Australia CEO Anthony Ball:

“Local clubs aren’t the only ones confused by Peter’s about-face on the importance of clubs in the community.”

Now, you could say that the DT is merely reporting what was said by key players in this issue. But apart from the lack of information about the pamphlet (which seems like a major oversight to me), consider this:

* The first mention of Garret in the article is not as the Federal School Education, Early Childhood and Youth Minister… but as “Under-pressure MP and former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett”. In fact, that’s the opening of the article. I fail to see what relevance Garrett’s musical past has on this story.

* The pamphlets are described as “anti-pokie” pamphlets, when in fact they are not. Again, don’t take my word for this; read it for yourself.

* The article pauses after the opening paragraphs to provide three links to previous Garrett-related DT articles. All three are negative, and none of them have anything to do with this issue.

* The poker machine reforms are described as having been put forward by “Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie,” when in fact they were key recommendations from the Productivity Commission… something else that Garrett mentions in his pamphlet, and that the DT has ignored.

* Murray’s claim that his club, which made just over $5 million from its poker machines last financial year, donates “large chunks of funds to community groups and surf clubs” was reported. But the fact that these “large chunks of funds” came to $102,561 (according to Randwick Labor Club’s 2011 annual report), or a mere 2% of poker machine revenue, was not.

* And the article closes with the clubs industry’s estimates of reform costs ($22 million) and job losses (300 staff) for the area, without any mention of the government’s estimates, or indeed any consideration given to the fact that these reforms have not yet been finalised. There is no mention of the fact that the industry estimates are based on a worst case scenario that the government has consistently disputed.

Is it too much to ask for a little balance? It seems the answer is yes. But when papers like the Daily Telegraph are as compromised as the local papers (consider parent company News Limited’s association with the NRL and their poker machine culture), I guess that’s no surprise.