Publish and be damned

Judging by the response to our news item about Arts Council England’s (ACE) ‘sabbatical’ arrangements, a lot of people in the sector are outraged that a funding body could be playing the system to divert an enormous amount of money to a senior member of staff. “You couldn’t make it up!” was one response on Twitter (though one person accused us of doing just that… we didn’t). Indeed, we have received a steady stream of emails and messages from current and former ACE staff and their funded clients ‘wishing to remain anonymous’, who have recommended other fertile avenues for investigation, suggesting that this tale is but the tip of a much larger iceberg.
Others assert that AP has ‘got it in for’ ACE – understandable given the number of times we seem to be reporting stories of questionable practices and institutional cover-ups. For the record, we have no agenda, and there are three reasons why we continue to report these types of issues. Firstly, we simply believe that a public organisation has a duty to play by its published rules, act transparently, treat those it funds – and those it doesn’t – with respect and do its utmost to be a good steward of the public money entrusted to it. Given that wider public support for arts funding is already dwindling, now is the worst of all times to be displaying an arrogant disregard for what ‘the public’ might view as fair and honest practice. Secondly, we are among a very small group of completely independent organisations that receive no public funding and have a platform from which to speak out, while those whose lives and livelihoods depend on arts council grants understandably shy away from biting the hand that feeds. And finally, as I wrote to ACE’s Director of Media Relations back in the autumn when the facts around the ATTL Yorkshire first started to emerge, “it’s about the press holding public institutions to account – something that we believe in so strongly that we will not hesitate to investigate even a hint of bad practice, and are prepared to be unpopular for it if necessary. We will always give people an opportunity to reply when they face allegations that they feel are unfair or unfounded – and will respond ourselves if false accusations are levied at us. I think it’s important that you are clear about where we are coming from so that there are no misunderstandings in future.”
So we will continue to publish – and if we are damned, so be it. Our authors, readers and advertisers will vote with their feet if they don’t like what we do. It’s just a shame that they’re not in a position to give funders their marching orders too.