Big Basher Bashing

In his blog for The Australian, Cuts and Glances, Gideon Haigh takes umbrage at a couple of BBL apologists, including Jonathan Howcroft for his Back Page Lead piece (below). Referring to Howcroft's contention that criticism of the BBL amounted to criticism of its patrons, Haigh writes:

But it actually makes no sense, partly because it assumes that BBL fans care what I think, which I very much doubt they do, and partly because it assumes that everyone who attends a BBL walks away with a positive experience, which they don't. Because in the latter case, wouldn't I then be 'chastising' these people if I wrote something gushing about how great everything is? Here's the thing: I have no duty to write positively or negatively about anything because people like it or don't. I say my piece; you can agree or disagree. It's called journalism.