Cotton Ward

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

Chris Masters – investigative journalist, Four Corners, ABC, author of Jonestown (about Alan Jones), Gold Walkley winner.

One of his most “perfect” stories, where everything worked pretty smoothly, was about the Rainbow Warrior bombing (which killed a man), and turned into a worldwide scoop on the French Government’s “state-sponsored terrorism”.

He had to fly to various countries and at one stage the French spies were so desperate to evade him that they sank their getaway yacht and got picked up by a submarine.

“For that story, one in 100, I was always in the right place at the right time.”

But for the other 99 stories, it’s “usually painful, every step of the way”.

“You’re extracting secrets – information that people are extremely resistant to give.

“[When you ring] they never say, ‘You beaut, I’ll put the kettle on.’ ”

“A lot of the battle is winning their trust. And you do that by being trustworthy. Eventually you’ll find some people who are eager to cooperate.”

Continue reading Chris Masters, Walkley media conference

From SMH editor Peter Fray’s address to the Walkley’s conference:

I’ve been asked a few times recently to describe my ideal reporter. It’s easy: he is Rambo; she is Rambette. Why? It is obvious isn’t it?

Both Rambette and Rambo are clearly multi-platform types able to use a variety of tools to maximum effect. But there is also something else that appeals: they know how to catch and kill their own. They can go out in the forest or desert and come back a bit soiled but successful, having done all the work themselves. They can in other words go out, take risks and tell their own stories – in their own unique ways.

In question time, Fray said the Rambettes will know how to “fillet” and “trim the fat” off their own kill.