"That's called journalism"

And that's the problem

I think it is fair to say that there are two key responses journalists provide when people criticise their work.

The first is to concede some minor error, dismiss it as an aberration, and then assert that they and their colleagues also did lots of good work, and demand that critics acknowledge that. This often comes with a side-order of snark, and an implied, or stated claim that the audience doesn’t really understand journalism and so their criticisms are not only unfair but ignorant.

In the wake of criticism of the coverage of the Victorian election, Age journalist, Chip Le Grand, posted on Twitter a textbook version of this sort of response: