Reporting on the reporters

Her boss is the veteran, wily and street smart Peter Charley, who replaced “Iron” Mike Carey as Executive Producer of Dateline in 2007. Charley was previously EP of the ABC TV’s Lateline. Carey told me that Charley is a close personal friend of his.

Charley has a reputation for speaking his mind. (As EP of Lateline he issued this warning to me over my criticism of why Lateline was reluctant to open up Australia’s defence debate: “It is neither wise nor clever to suggest that "little ol' Lateline” is "afraid" to have anyone on the program…” (Friday January 13, 2006, email). Why is it not wise nor clever?)

I had observed that Lateline had only used one Australian journalist with actual military experience to comment on defence issues and that was legendary newsman Gerald Stone, the founding producer of Australia’s version of 60 Minutes on the Nine Network in 1979 and a former US Army officer. You would think that Stone would have been utilised more often and other journalists with military experience given a chance to speak on Lateline.

In 2004 Lateline host Tony Jones played hardball with Liberal political head kicker Tony Abbott over his alleged secret meeting with Catholic Cardinal George Pell to discuss government policy. There were overtones of a dark conspiracy between the Abbott and the Catholic Priest. It was actually more high farce on Jones’ part. But when it comes to defence experts, Jones’ blowtorch is nowhere to be seen.

Ironically, Charley served his apprenticeship as a producer under the master Gerald Stone on a failed show called Real Life on the Seven Network in 1992-93. Charley is an award winning journalist but has never served in the military.

I have spent years studying Stone’s playbook. In all seriousness the man is a genius, whether you like or dislike tabloid TV news. You have to give him his dues. The great man is now Non-executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the SBS Board.

In the late 1970s Stone probably sensed an Australian society needing strong masculine heroes to fill the void left by the controversial Vietnam War which had overturned traditional stereotypes. He recruited three journalists, Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and George Negus. As canny Mark Day, a newspaperman of the old school, observed:

I guess we can blame Gerald Stone and George Negus for the emergence of the celebrity journalist - at least in Australia.

Stone was executive producer of the Nine (TV network) clone of CBS’s 60 Minutes when it launched here in 1979 with the premise that the reporter was the story.

George, along with Ray Martin and Ian Leslie were sent into war zones, deep jungles, and dark places in search of ripper yarns, and the cameras tracked them tracking down the story.

George, coat slung over his shoulder, embraced this role with a particular gusto, adding his idiosyncratic commentary into which he wove his personal beliefs.

It wasn’t long before George was a bigger celeb than any of the news makers he pursued, even after being savaged by the likes of Margaret Thatcher.