Sarah Ferguson began her journalistic career in newspapers in the UK and worked in France and Washington DC before moving to Australia. For four years at SBS she was a producer and reporter for Dateline and Insight, then she spent four years at Channel 9, working on the Sunday program. Since joining the ABC’s Four Corners in February 2008, Sarah has won three Walkleys, including the Gold Walkley in 2011 for ‘A Bloody Business’. Her reports ‘Code of Silence’, ‘Smugglers’ Paradise’ and ‘A Bloody Business’ won the Logie for Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report 2010–2012. ‘Code of Silence’ also won a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and the George Munster Award for Independent Journalism in 2009.
Allan Hogan joined the ABC in 1967 and was a reporter on AM and This Day Tonight before going to London as a staff correspondent in 1971. He was a reporter for Four Corners (1974–78). He left the ABC to join 60 Minutes and started the Sunday program in 1981. He rejoined the ABC in 1987 as staff correspondent in Washington and in 1990 he was presenter of the Queensland edition of the 7.30 Report. In 2005 Allan became the Executive Producer of SBS TV’s Insight program. He joined Enough Rope with Andrew Denton as script editor in 2007. Allan is currently writing a screenplay and playing the guitar.
Jonathan Holmes was born and educated in Britain. He spent 12 years with the BBC, working behind the camera on programs like 24 Hours, Nationwide and Panorama, before moving to Australia as executive producer of Four Corners (1983–85). Jonathan has served as Head of ABC TV Documentaries, executive producer of Foreign Correspondent, The 7.30 Report and of Channel Ten’s short-lived current affairs program Public Eye, and worked as an on-air reporter. Since 2008 he has presented ABC TV’s Media Watch program. A four-times nominee for a Walkley Award — though never a winner — with Jill Jolliffe, Jonathan won the 1998 Logie Award for Best Documentary for a Foreign Correspondent Special — on the Balibo Five.
Liz Jackson graduated with first-class honours in Philosophy and Literature before studying Law. In 1986 she joined the ABC as a reporter on Radio National, then joined Four Corners in 1993. She has covered the fall of the Soeharto regime in Indonesia, corruption in international cricket, the war in Iraq and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. During her time at Four Corners she has won three Logie Awards for Outstanding Coverage of Public Affairs and eight Walkley Awards for her coverage of Indigenous issues, international affairs, sport and social equity. In 2005 Liz presented the ABC’s Media Watch program, returning to Four Corners in 2006. In 2006 she won the Gold Walkley for Excellence in Journalism.
Caroline Jones was the first woman reporter on This Day Tonight, and the first woman reporter and anchor of Four Corners (1972–81), concurrently with broadcasting on Sydney morning radio (1977–81). For eight years, on ABC Radio National, Caroline presented The Search for Meaning programs (1987–94), in which hundreds of Australians told of their lives. Caroline is the author of six books, most recently Through a Glass Darkly: A Journey of Love and Grief with My Father. Caroline has contributed to and presented Australian Story since its inception in 1996. Among many honours, she has been voted one of Australia’s National Living Treasures, is an Officer of the Order of Australia and an Ambassador for Reconciliation.
Peter Manning counts himself privileged to have worked on Four Corners for seven and a half years: as field producer (1982, 1983), Associate Producer (1984–1985) and Executive Producer (1985–1989). This period saw the program’s uncompromising investigative style win many Walkley and Logie awards and prompt several Royal Commissions and some spectacular jailings and demotions from high office. Later, while the Controller of ABC TV News and Current Affairs, Peter initiated Lateline, Foreign Correspondent and the ABC’s first website. He also served as Head of the Seven Network’s current affairs output. He has lectured at UTS and Monash University, and is the author of Us and Them: Media, Muslims and the Middle East (2006).
Chris Masters is Four Corners’ longest serving reporter. His first program, ‘The Big League’ (1983) — an investigation of judicial corruption — precipitated the Street Royal Commission. ‘The Moonlight State’ (1987), on Queensland corruption, helped trigger the Fitzgerald inquiry, the first of a series of national inquiries into policing. Chris is now an author and documentary-maker. Among many accolades, Chris has received a Logie Award and four Walkey Awards, including the prestigious Gold Walkley — for his report on the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. A three-time author, one of his Walkley Awards was for Jonestown, his unauthorised biography of broadcaster Alan Jones. Chris was awarded a Public Service Medal in 1999 and a Centenary Medal in 2002.
David Marr is one of Australia’s most influential commentators. Over the past 25 years he has worked at various outlets: for ABC TV’s Four Corners, as a presenter for Radio National and for the Sydney Morning Herald, where he works today. In 2002–04 he hosted the ABC’s Media Watch program. In addition to journalism and commentary, David has written a number of highly acclaimed books, including biographies of Sir Garfield Barwick (1980) and Patrick White (1991), and The Ivanov Trail (1984), the story of a spy scandal that rocked the Hawke government. Dark Victory (2004), co-written with respected journalist Marian Wilkinson, analysed the 2001 Tampa incident and the subsequent election campaign.
Sally Neighbour was a reporter with Four Corners in 1996–2008, during which time she won three Walkley Awards — for her stories ‘The Crown Deals’ (1996), ‘Catch Me If You Can’ (2001) and ‘The Kilwa Incident’ (2006). Sally is the author of two books on terrorism and Islamic extremism: In the Shadow of Swords (HarperCollins 2004) and The Mother of Mohammed (MUP 2008). After leaving Four Corners, she spent three years as a freelance journalist writing for the Australian, principally on terrorism and security-related issues, and the Monthly magazine. In February 2012, Sally was appointed as Executive Producer of ABC TV’s nightly flagship current affairs program, 7.30.
Kerry O’Brien, one of the most prominent names in Australian journalism, has six Walkley Awards, including the Gold Walkley. Kerry was the host and editor of The 7.30 Report for 15 years. Since early 2011, he has presented Four Corners; he reported for the program in 1975–77 and 1985–86. Born in Queensland, Kerry started as a news cadet in 1966. He has worked in newspapers, wire service and television news and current affairs, as a general reporter, feature writer, political and foreign correspondent, interviewer and compere. In recognition of his distinguished service and contribution to the community, Kerry was made Doctor of the University for both Queensland University of Technology (2009) and the University of Queensland (2011).
John Penlington was born in 1938, educated at Ascot State School and Brisbane Grammar School and completed part of a Diploma in Journalism at Queensland University as an external student. He began a cadetship at the Queensland Times in Ipswich and moved to the Courier-Mail in Brisbane. In 1961 he switched to broadcast journalism with ABC Talks in Sydney. He was a Four Corners reporter for eight years, then an overseas correspondent in Hong Kong and Chief Correspondent in London before becoming Executive Producer of Nationwide for three years. He then moved to the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program as a senior producer for 16 years.
Peter Reid’s journalism career spans over 45 years. He was a reporter on Melbourne newspapers, then worked overseas as a sub–editor with Reuters and the Daily Express. Switching to television, he served as scripter–sub with Visnews and ITN. In 1965 he returned to Australia, joining Four Corners as a reporter–producer; he was Executive Producer through the 1970s. Peter headed ABC TV current affairs programs then worked for ABC’s TV Features as senior producer of major documentaries, including ‘First Among Equals’, in which five former prime ministers and their wives recounted life at the top. Since retirement, his articles on media issues have appeared in the Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald and Walkley Magazine.
Debbie Whitmont trained and practised as a legal aid lawyer before entering journalism. A former ABC Middle East correspondent (1993–96), she has reported for news, Foreign Correspon
dent and the 7.30 Report. She is also the author of An Extreme Event, about the fatal 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Debbie has worked at Four Corners for more than 20 years — as a researcher, producer, Associate Producer and now as a reporter. As a producer, her programs have been nominated for an Emmy and won a Logie. As a reporter, she has won two Walkley Awards and is a three-time winner of the Australian Human Rights Award for TV.
COPYRIGHT
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First published in Australia in 2012
This edition published in 2012
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
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© Copyright in the individual essays remains the property of their authors.
The rights of Kerry O’Brien, John Penlington, Peter Reid, Caroline Jones, Allan Hogan, Jonathan Holmes, Mary Delahunty, Chris Masters, Peter Manning, Jenny Brockie, David Marr, Liz Jackson, Sally Neighbour, Debbie Whitmont and Sarah Ferguson to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
The stories that changed Australia / edited by
Sally Neighbour; introduction by Kerry O’Brien.
ISBN: 978 0 7333 3105 3 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978 1 74309 569 0 (epub)
Four corners (Television program)
Television feature stories – Australia – Social aspects.
Television broadcasting of news – Australia.
Documentary television programs – Australia – Social aspects.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Neighbour, Sally.
O’Brien, Kerry.
070.1950994
Cover design by Jane Waterhouse, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover image by Lodi Kramer, ABC TV
Photograph of Jenny Brockie courtesy SBS; photograph of Caroline Jones © Peter Solness; photograph of Mary Delahunty © Mark Chew; photograph of David Marr courtesy Fairfax; photograph of Peter Manning from his private collection; all other photographs courtesy ABC.
The Stories That Changed Australia: 50 Years of Four Corners Page 25