Author: cottonward

Panel: WHAT CAN JOURNALISM AND FICTION LEARN FROM EACH OTHER?

MALCOLM KNOX (SMH, author): Writing fiction helped me to write fast. I’d written 7-8 complete novels before I’d walked into a newsroom, none of them published. Writing a million words without being published is a form of madness.

Continue reading Malcolm Knox, Caroline Overington, Mark Dapin

Panel: Paul Barry (4 Corners, Media Watch), David Marr (SMH writer, 4 Corners, Media Watch), David Leser (Good Weekend profile writer, author). Topic: Truth is stranger than fiction.

DAVID MARR: “I love people who invent their life stories, they fascinate me. But if they put the same amount of energy into their real lives, instead of being constricted in a web of lies, they could really get somewhere.”

Continue reading David Marr, Paul Barry, David Leser

MALCOLM TURNBULL: “Politics has always been vicious and nasty. From the latest tweet on Twitter to graffiti on a wall in Pompeii. You can’t complain. It goes with the territory.”

“The public are very discerning and don’t believe every caricature.

“Q and A is enormously important. There’s a decent chunk of time to be yourself, though it’s under adversarial conditions.”

Turnbull cited his legal experience as making him an expert on interrogation.

“They’re both friends of mine, but Laurie Oakes is a much better interrogator than Kerry O’Brien. Why? Laurie is much more forensic. He asks a question that demands a response, like a barrister.

Continue reading Malcolm Turnbull, Laurie Oakes, Annabel Crabb

His key to interviewing on radio is: “Somebody has to be dancing”, ideally the interviewee.

If they get dull, PF pulls out the six-shooters and fires at their feet. (says something to stir them up).

“If they’re still dull, I’ll dance.”

Continue reading Peter FitzSimons, Walkley conference