Behind the Media

As a bonus episode of BTM Hedley Thomas interviews Stephen Brook on his last day as The Australia's Media Diary columnist and host of the podcast. They discuss Brooky's 15 years at the newspaper, his time in London reporting for The Guardian, breaking the ABC Guthrie-Milne sacking, the book Stephen is writing, interviewing techniques, the state of the media, and what comes next.

Media Diarist Stephen Brook interviews the veteran broadcaster of This Day Tonight, Foreign Correspondent, Dateline and 60 Minutes. George is involved in the launch of lobby group ABC Alumni to campaign for the public broadcaster, he's also celebrating the 40th anniversary of 60 minutes. They discuss career highlights like the famous interview he did with Margaret Thatcher, and how he came to be a journalist after being a high school english teacher.

Media Diarist Stephen Brook interviews Ed Kavalee, the TodayFM Sydney breakfast co-host, and comedian. Stephen asks if Ed can rescue the low ratings since Kyle and Jackie O left, they discuss Kavalee's wife and media personality, Tiffiny Hall. Also covered is being mentored by comedian Tony Martin and brought up through the ranks by Working Dog.

Stephen Brook, The Australian's Media Diarist interviews Ben Fordham, broadcast journalist on 2GB radio and Channel 9's Today show. As a young radio reporter he covered the 1997 Thredbo landslide which won him a Walkley award.

Media Diarist Stephen Brook interviews Hedley Thomas, the investigative journalist behind the record breaking true crime podcast The Teacher's Pet, which has him fielding offers for a Hollywood adaptation. Hedley's has taken on Prime Ministers, billionaires, and the Australian Federal Police. As a foreign correspondent he covered the collapse of communism. He's won a gold Walkley award for the shocking case of Dr Mohamed Haneef. But shocked the industry by walking away from journalism. As the National Chief Correspondent at The Australian, Hedley had to reinvent himself as a podcaster with The Teacher's Pet.

The Australian's Media Diarist Stephen Brook interviews Michael Rowland, co-host of ABC New Breakfast. The two engage in an ABC vs The Australian arm wrestle over the newspapers coverage of the national broadcaster. In the fallout of the Michelle Guthrie sacking, Michael was the first journalist to interview acting Managing Director, David Anderson. He was in the Canberra Press Gallery, reported on business and finance, and was US correspondent covering former president Barack Obama. Rowland discusses his successful partnership with ABC News Breakfast co-host, Virginia Trioli, how they work because their personalities are opposites and why he hates word chemistry.

It's hard to imagine the ABC without Insiders, the television show that reshaped the broadcaster's Sunday morning political programming. Host Barrie Cassidy launched Insiders 17 years ago, but plans for the program actually began in Belgium, where he sketched out a promising format with his houseguests, photographer Mike Bowers and future news director Gaven Morris. Barrie has seen both sides of politics in an extensive career. He spent three years as a press gallery journalist in Canberra, and six as Prime Minister Bob Hawke's press secretary. In this episode of Behind the Media, he tells Stephen Brook about accusations of partisan bias, what went wrong with sacked ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie, and his own experiences of political fallout at the national broadcaster decades ago.

Former crime reporter at The Australian Dan Box has spent the past three years covering the Bowraville murders in print, and for a podcast. He returned to Australia this month to cover the latest developments in the case, which has been referred to the High Court. He talks to media diarist Stephen Brook about the podcast that won him two Walkley awards in 2016, his follow up video documentary series The Queen & Zak Grieve, and the state of true crime at the moment. "One bloke said to me, 'true crime is so hot right now,' and I just wanted to slap him, I wanted to reach across the desk. And just say, 'you have no idea because it's not entertainment, it's not something you watch for fun. These are actual people's lives, these are people's children who've been murdered, these are families that will never recover from that harm'." Covering the crime round can take its toll, and Dan struggled after two years spent reporting on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. On one occasion he came home and felt the walls were shaking. Dan began his career at the The Sunday Times on work experience and lucked into a job as the oil and gas correspondent.

Back on our screens after being diagnosed with bowel cancer two years ago, Anton Enus says the whole experience changed him as a person and a journalist. Despite being quite private Anton documented his treatment on Facebook and for SBS online, allowing himself to become the story, he said it was cathartic. Anton has been at SBS for 20 years but started out unexpectedly while looking for freelance work while on holiday. Hailing from South Africa he worked for the South African Broadcasting Corporation during the apartheid regime which he called a moral compromise. It was just one of the times Anton had to swallow his pride growing up classified as 'cape coloured'. Another was having to get special permission to study journalism at a white only university. He corrects the record on being outed by South African and Australian media, the role of public broadcasting in the face of government pressure and taking over from Lee Lin Chin as the SBS weekend newsreader.

Media Diarist Stephen Brook interviews The Weekend Australian Magazine staff writer Trent Dalton, discussing the intense emotional attachment he forms with the people he's interviewing. Dalton's new book Boy Swallows Universe is a novel influenced by his childhood in Brisbane growing up on the wrong side of the tracks which led to his observational feature writing.

Since the 1980s, Lee has described Australia to itself via the medium of commercial television drama, working on Sons and Daughters as a writer, rewriting the first episode of Home And Away, before creating Always Greener, Packed to the Rafters and Winners & Losers. His most recent success is A Place to Call Home, which survived cancellation on Seven to be reborn on Foxtel. His next project, a "glorious super soap" is already in the works for Seven. Here Lee discusses the poor state of drama on the ABC, why there is not enough mentoring in the industry, and the problems of dealing with fans on Twitter.

The Australian's editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, gives his account of Australia's recent political turmoil and discusses the state of press gallery journalism on this episode of Behind the Media. Also discussed: why he doesn't use social media, the time he missed out on a cadetship, and being shouted at by prime ministers.

The Northern Territory News is a tabloid paper which has grown a global reputation for it's quirky coverage of life in Australia's north. Editor Matt Williams speaks to Stephen Brook about some of the publication's outrageous cover stories, how he balances the hunger for gags with serious journalistic ambitions, purchasing croc insurance for a US President, and the challenges of political coverage in small cities.

Helen McCabe is one of the most powerful women in media, with a resume ranging from editing the Australian Women's Weekly, time on newspaper back benches and the press gallery, to a foreign correspondent stint in London. Now she's heading up Nine's bold new digital play, Future Women. She speaks to Stephen Brook about being sacked by fax, her memories of the disastrous fake Pauline Hanson photos scandal, and her potential involvement in Fairfax once the nation's biggest media merger is realised.

Facebook's head of news partnerships Campbell Brown is a serious journalist who worked at NBC, CNN and won an Emmy Award for her reporting on Hurricane Katrina in her home state of Louisiana. She speaks to The Australian's Media Diarist Stephen Brook about walking away from cable news when it became too partisan, making the move to Facebook, and how the social network doesn't fear regulation if it's the right regulation.