In these last few weeks there has been an air of dread, suffocating the Gurgler offices like the feeling that Pauline Hanson will find an electorate to run in for an upcoming election. And its not just the pain of watching the Australian Test team field like the Bangladeshi Prime Ministers XI, it’s the news that one of our nation’s most influential television journo’s is hanging up his lapel mic. So it should come as no surprise that we have included him as a Nominee for the 2015 Man of the Year.
And noone can blame him for wanting some down time, he recently turned 70. Whilst the current generations would recognise him as the captain of such ships as Lateline, The 7.30 Report, and Four Corners, he actually began his journalist career on the wire service, and then as a general reporter for the TV news. From there he branched out into newspapers, where his curiosity for the political world scored him the job as press secretary for then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. He wasn’t even 30. That would be like Matt Suleau (son of Mike) working for Malcolm Turnbull.
He has won nearly every award one can win in Journalism, including the coveted Gold Walkley, a bit like a Gold Logie….except people actually respect the Walkley’s.
The world of TV political journalism definitely wont be the same, without his hair or cleft chin.
It is with great admiration that I announce this 2015 Man of the Year nomination to – Kerry O’Brien
