Saturday, April 02, 2005
REPORTING FROM INONESSIA, AND OTHER FOREIGN JOINTS
Highlights from The Age’s biographies of its attractive foreign correspondents, beginning with Matthew Moore:
Three terrorist bombings and a tsunami have shown him and the paper that Inonessia retains an infinite capacity to surprise, and that editors make predictions at their peril.
Prediction: whoever wrote Deborah Cameron’s biography might one day learn something about commas:
During more than 25 years in journalism, Deborah has lived in New York, Indonesia and now, Tokyo, where she became the first woman to hold the job of Japan correspondent.
This is not her first, first.
And, now, speaking, of, learning, here’s Ed O’Loughlin:
Born in Toronto in 1966, he was instructed in the liberal arts in Trinity College Dublin, which also learned him how to be a gentleman.
Hamish McDonald is …
… essentially an unsociable creature and not a team player - best left out on his own in some alien location.
He is the author of several books that made him disliked by the powerful.
“Suharto’s Indonesia” explained how the former Indonesian military ruler’s tortured upbringing made him incapable of reining in his famility’s corrupt dealings …
“Death in Balibo, Lies in Canberra” (written with Desmond Ball) laid bare the weazel-worded policy of successive Australian government on Timor.
He started at The Age as a cadet in 1986, after co-editing the Melbourne University newspaper and enjoying himself so much he realised he was unfit for anything else but journalism.
And Michael Gawenda:
Then one day, out of the blue, the American editors of TIME asked him to edit the local edition of the magazine. Gawenda was dumbfounded. He says he can’t recall now why he agreed to take the job. He says he enjoyed it, but missed the freedom of the reporting life.
He even entertained the idea of becoming a senior editor for TIME and moving permanently to New York when that was offered him, but in the end, he says he wanted to be an Australian journalist working for Australian papers.
So he ended up editing The Age for seven years. He says he doesn’t know how this happened either! He enjoyed that too, but missed the reporting life. Now he’s back doing what was always his first love in journalism. He says he’s a lucky man!
Well, he was, until an excitable! 14-year-old! wrote his biography! For The Age!
(Via reader Pete B.)
QUAKE LATEST
Terrible news from Indonesia, following yet more terrible news:
Nine Australian service personnel were killed tonight when a Navy helicopter crashed in Indonesia during earthquake relief operations, military officials said.
The nine Australians - seven men and two women - died when a Navy Sea King chopper attached to the HMAS Kanimbla went down on Nias Island, off the west coast of Sumatra, at about 7.30pm (AEST).
The official toll from the quake now stands at 514, although more than twice that number are estimated to have died.
Friday, April 01, 2005
NEW EDITOR
David Penberthy is the new editor of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, replacing Campbell Reid. His years of study have finally paid off:
Like other schoolboys, I spent most of my teens trying to get my hands on literature involving lesbians.
He’ll do well. Congratulations, Penbo!
Thursday, March 31, 2005
MESSAGE FROM A SPONSOR
Does this sound like your child?
“I’m an Indian! Little Eichmanns are everywhere! I wrote all those articles myself! Let’s rap about ‘Nam!”
It does? Then maybe little Becky or Josh should spend some time in the Churchill Ward:
This ward is for children who have problems with their brain
Yes, the Churchill Ward! We’ve been in the brain-fixing game since 1855, and haven’t lost a lobe yet. Book your child in now for a free test. Don’t let Becky grow up like this!