Walkley Awards

A few days ago I sent an email to a workmate reflecting on my dutiful attendance and his blessed absence from last Friday’s Walkley Awards for “excellence” in journalism, as they are known with the modesty typical of our industry.

The good old days: A towering, stick-thin poncy guy shrieks in terror as he is heroically attacked by someone five feet shorter than him at the Walkleys.

I told him that if it wasn’t such a self-indulgent topic I would love to write a piece under the headline “The Party at the End of Journalism” about this morbid, wrist-slashing soiree. He urged me to write it anyway, so here goes.

Please forgive any indulgence, but given that you are a person who is engaged enough to have taken the time to click on our website, you might be interested as a news consumer in an insider’s thoughts on the future of our industry. The short answer to that question, if put to most people at the Walkleys, is that there is no future.

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  • Ags says:

    06:48pm | 07/12/12

    Thank you T rev, I’ve been waiting years to see someone apart from myself say that they don’t think Laurie Oakes is God Read more »

  • Kathine Grant says:

    06:01pm | 07/12/12

    I’d really like to know DOB why when you said; ‘I wont (sic) add that most journos have no background understanding of the subjects they report and comment on and ‘ you went ahead and said it anyway. Read more »

 

Declarations of the death of quality journalism in Australia have been hugely premature, no matter how often front-bar bores and their like keep making them.

No shortage of quality here. Photo: Warren Clarke

These declarations have become one of the staple gripes of hand-wringers, who often see the end of the world approaching in other areas of life. And like many of those other complaints, this one is false.

The evidence is between the hard and soft covers of the long-list finalists of the Walkley non-fiction award, of which I am a judge. The winner will be announced on November 30.

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  • PJ says:

    06:09pm | 13/11/12

    Sunny Those people are the only voices against the tsunami of socialist Left propaganda thats shoved down Australians throats though our media. The Gillard Government’s spending of $150 million on an army of 1600 PR consultants is paying off. In the Canberra press office, genuine journalists are outnumbers 6 to… Read more »

  • sunny says:

    03:48pm | 13/11/12

    PJ Have Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman and the other multitude of right wing stooges slipped your memory. The earth would shift on it’s axis if they ever asked Tony Abbott a difficult question - not that they would get an answer if they did. BTW I can’t wait to read… Read more »

 

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