Behind the Media

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 on the ABC, why there is not enough mentoring in the industry, and the problems of dealing with fans on Twitter.  

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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.  

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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.  

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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.  

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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.  

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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.  

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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.

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.  

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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.  

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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.