From Mr P. E. Curphey, FRPharmS
SIR,—I was disappointed to see Mr Hemant Patel’s letter last week
(PJ, September 23, p443) concerning
the replacement process for the editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal and referring
to other correspondents’ “suspicions”.
It is common practice in any organisation when losing a senior post holder to
review the job and the current specification before replacement processes are
implemented. Mr Patel and others voiced their concern in the Council that the
process should be clear and well understood and the Council accepted the proposal
of the Officers (of whom Mr Patel is one) to ask a small group to look at the
situation.
Over the past three to four years the issue of the editor’s position has
been misrepresented totally by many distinguished and some mischievous contributors.
In my experience, no one on the Council or connected with the profession has
ever expressed any point of view other than that the editor should have editorial
freedom. Let us nail that once and for all. It is my view, too.
The argument/difference of view is whether such a position sits comfortably
with decision-making, strategy planning, etc, at the highest level within an
organisation and whether the PJ and its publications warrants a separate directorate
focus.
In earlier dicussion the importance of the editor’s position was highlighted
and in organisational/line management terms it was clarified that he or she
was responsible to the chief executive (as are the directors) but that attendance
and participation in corporate decision making was not of right but by custom
and practice attendance.
No organisation can operate on the basis that a journalist has the right to
publish, question publicly or influence decisions still in the making, ie, to
sit in directors’ meetings and question or criticise decisions to which
he would as a director be party.
A more comfortable position, surely, would be to retain the right to comment
on the organisation and the Council as he sees fit up to but not beyond the
boundary of disloyalty. That is real freedom of speech: say what you feel, preach
what you believe — but you cannot have your cake and eat it.
Peter Curphey
Member of Council,
Royal Pharmaceutical Society