In a special summer edition of Fourth Estate, we turn the clock back to December 2018, when broadcaster and journalist Mike Carlton joined then host Peter Fray for a wide-ranging conversation about his newly published memoir, ⁠On Air⁠.

The book traces Carlton’s long career across Australian journalism — from print to radio — offering a candid account of life behind the microphone, the shifting culture of newsrooms, and the pressures shaping public debate.

Recorded during a period of profound upheaval in Australia’s media landscape, this conversation reflects on power, personality, and the responsibilities of broadcasters, themes that feel as resonant now as they did then.

Plus ça change.

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