Episodes
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.
Published 12/16/18
Published 12/16/18
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.
Published 12/09/18
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.
Published 12/02/18
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.
Published 11/25/18
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...
Published 11/18/18
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...
Published 10/28/18
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,...
Published 10/21/18
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,...
Published 10/14/18
Back on our screens after being diagnosed with bowel cancer two years ago, Anton Enus says the whole experience changed him as a person...
Published 10/07/18
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.
Published 09/23/18
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...
Published 09/09/18
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.
Published 09/02/18
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.
Published 08/26/18
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.
Published 08/19/18
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.
Published 08/12/18
Mark Schoofs heads a global team of investigative reporters for BuzzFeed News. He set up the team that has prosecuted important investigations into tennis match fixing, Russian collusion in US elections and Russian assassinations in Britain. Schoofs has one a Pulitzer for reporting on the AIDS crisis in Africa for The Village Voice, and since making the move from ProPublica to Buzzfeed five years ago the listicles site has been a Pulitzer finalist twice on his watch.
Published 08/05/18
Stephen Brook interviews Les Hinton, who for decades was Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man. He left News International in 2011 after the News of the World phone hacking scandal but says he was in ignorance of it. Les says what Rupert Murdoch is really like, why Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were so charismatic and remembers the time Princess Diana called. They discuss Les’ book The Bootle Boy, the future of newspapers and how the tabloid agenda has won.
Published 07/29/18
The Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative reporter discusses getting more death threats than awards, being sued by Eddie Obeid and her reporting landing him in jail, her book getting pulped over a slight mistake and she plays a game of true or false.
Published 07/22/18
Actor, comedian and author Shaun Micallef adds "promiscuity" to his list of abilities after successfully working with every major Australian tv channel. After this year's Logie Awards, Shaun told BTM he’s not overtly political or dirty and will kill a sketch if he thinks the audience is too partisan. He runs through the Adelaide Mafia of prominent media personalities and reveals how a Maltese boy became star of Talkin' Bout Your Generation and Mad As Hell.
Published 07/15/18
Poolside the morning after the Logies at The Star Gold Coast, Hamish and Andy talk about their enduring partnership, Bert Newton's clanger, the difficulty in getting a new show up and selling their True Stories format around the world.
Published 07/08/18
The legendary former anchor of 7:30 Report and Four Corners discusses the "punishment" behind the governments ABC cuts, how the public broadcaster must mobilise, the trick to getting a good interview, why he admires John Howard and his forthcoming book.
Published 05/13/18
International guest Richard Lloyd Parry is the Asia Editor of The Times newspaper.He’s the author of Ghosts Of The Tsunami, a book about how that disaster devastated a community in northern Japan in 2011, and People Who Eat Darkness about the disappearance of a British woman in Tokyo and the attempts by her killer to sue him for libel.Lloyd Parry has worked for The Independent and The Times and reported from most of Asia's trouble spots including Indonesia and Afghanistan. He speaks about...
Published 05/06/18
Zemiro is the host with the most; she’s the face of Home Delivery on ABC, RocKwiz on SBS and calls herself the midwife of Eurovision in Australia. And she's about to present All Together Now, a big budget singing show on Channel 7.Born in France, Julia went to a French school in Bondi, studied drama and did improv and was an actress before becoming a TV host and interviewer.She talks about why she won't present Eurovision again, if RocKwiz will ever come back, plus her talents in getting...
Published 04/29/18
At 34, the indefatigable Markson is the national political editor for The Daily Telegraph.She broke the news that Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce was having a love child with a former staffer, which cost him his job, and explains how the Canberra Press Gallery works.Sharri spent a year editing Cleo magazine, was media editor of The Australian, won a Walkley award at Seven news, convinced a wealthy businessman to let her have her wedding on his private country estate despite his initial refusal. And...
Published 04/22/18