A journalist whose revelations forced the resignation of Tasmania’s deputy premier has gained Tasmania’s top media award. Matthew Denholm, The Australian’s Tasmanian correspondent, took out the Keith Welsh Award for outstanding contribution to journalism when the Media Alliance’s 2006 Tasmanian Media Awards were handed out in Hobart on March 17.

Denholm’s report, which exposed former deputy premier Bryan Green’s secret deal to give two former Labor ministers a business monopoly, was also judged the best news story of 2006. Green is facing criminal charges.

Denholm’s colleagues at News Limited dominated the awards, with Sue Neales winning the award for excellence in print and online wire service journalism, Chris Kidd recognised for best news photography, and Simon Bevilacqua winning for his reporting on science, technology and health.

ABC TV also fared well, with The 7.30 Report’s Jocelyn Nettlefold taking home three awards: for excellence in electronic journalism, cultural diversity reporting and sports. Stateline’s Airlie Ward won for environment reporting.

Adrian Wild was awarded Honorary Life Membership for his more than 40 years of service to Tasmanian journalism, public affairs and the union.

The news media have been barred from military hearings of 14 Guantanamo Bay terror suspects.

In a move that appalled legal experts and press freedom groups, the Pentagon announced on March 5 that journalists would not be permitted into the hearings.

Pentagon spokesperson, Navy Commander Jeffrey Gordon, said some of the 14 prisoners are alleged to have planned the September 11 attacks, and that national security could be compromised by their statements.

But legal commentators, such as Scott Horton of the New York City Bar Association, say the Pentagon is more concerned that the detainees will reveal they were abused in custody.

“They were tortured and mistreated, and that fact is classified secret, which just shows you the perversity in which this whole process is travelling,” Horton said.

The hearings, known as combatant status review tribunals, are a preliminary to the controversial military trials. If a detainee is deemed an ‘enemy combatant’, they are eligible for trial.

More than 500 such hearings were held between July 2004 and March 2005 and, while some information was restricted, journalists were never prohibited from covering proceedings.

“Closing the courtroom to scrutiny sends a troubling signal to much of the world about the fairness of our process,” said Floyd Abrams, a US lawyer specialising in free press issues.

Experts have also questioned the integrity of the hearings process, where detainees do not have a lawyer present and where the legal burden is on the detainee to prove their innocence.

Cartoon by Andrew Weldon. 

Media students across the country will mingle withexperienced journalists, editors and producers for advice on how to get ahead in the industry at the annual MediaPass student industry days.

Each event includes three panel discussions, made up of young journalists, freelancers and employers.

This year’s speakers include Triple J’s Ronan Sharkey, SBS’s Leroy Ah Ben, The Big Issue’s Alan Attwood and Network Ten’s David Breen.

MediaPass days have already been held in Brisbane and Sydney, but students in other capitals should register now for these dates:
• Melbourne – April 20, Horti Hall
• Adelaide – August 21, Adelaide City Council Meeting Hall
• Perth – August 23, Perth Town Hall

The days are free for final-year journalism students.

If you are a student wanting to attend, or a lecturer wanting more information, email Danielle Crofts at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call (02) 9333 0956.

As a part of its student program, the Walkley Foundation is also accepting entries for the JUST Super Student Journalist of the Year Award.

Entry forms for the award can be downloaded online at www.alliance.org.au/student. Follow the links to find out information about internship opportunities with the Walkleys.

Voting is underway for the Annual Photographers Choice Awards.

All entrants to last year’s 2006 Nikon-Walkley Photographic Award are eligible to vote, and will receive an email asking who they thought presented the best body of work by an Australian photographer last year.

All the details are at www.nikon.com.au.

Megan Lewis won the gong for 2005 for her intimate series on the Martu Mob. Other past winners include Nick Moir and Jason South.

In the wake of the tragic Garuda plane crash at Yogyakarta on March 7, in which one Australian journalist died and another was critically injured, the Alliance has echoed calls by media heavyweights for the government to address journalist safety on ministerial ‘grand tours’.

On March 23, Alliance federal secretary Christopher Warren wrote a letter to John Howard recommending having a diplomatic aircraft big enough to carry pooled journalists and crew.

“Coverage of ministerial visits is, without question, a vital part of the democratic process, connecting the public to the actions of their government,” Warren stated.

“However, the government cannot expect journalists to follow ministerial movements where there is a real risk to their safety.”

Some of Australia’s biggest news organisations had already issued the prime minister with an ultimatum. Fairfax CEO David Kirk and News Limited CEO John Hartigan said they would decline to send correspondents to cover ministerial visits if there were insufficient seats for journalists on official aircraft.

“The Garuda incident has again highlighted longstanding concerns about the safety of Australian journalists who accompany government representatives on official trips on foreign countries.

“We are sure you share our belief that the deaths of Australians last week was preventable and must not recur,” they wrote in a letter to the prime minister on March 16.

“Accordingly we are formally asking the government to approve the purchase of new aircraft, or make other arrangements, that will enable all relevant news media to accompany official trips on the official aircraft.”

To remember Morgan Mellish, the Australian Financial Review journalist killed in the tragedy, friends have created the Morgan Mellish Memorial Fund.

Honouring his sense of adventure and love of the outdoors, it aims to raise $15,000 for a rescue boat to be donated to Elizabeth Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Seven days without news on Paris Hilton makes the gossip mags weak.

But Associated Press did what many in the media had only dreamed about – imposing a blanket ban on stories about the socialite heiress from February 19.

“Editors just wanted to see what would happen if we didn’t cover this media phenomenon, this creature of the internet gossip age, for a full week,” AP’s Jocelyn Noveck wrote on March 2.

“Would anyone care? Would anyone notice?”

People noticed, although not one of the thousands of media outlets on AP’s roster called looking for a Paris story.

Instead, ironically, the ‘no-Paris’ ban became a story in itself when an AP internal memo surfaced in The New York Observer and on the gossip website Gawker.com.

The idea of the ban sparked serious debate about the power of news organisations to set and manipulate the news agenda.

“Some felt we were tinkering dangerously with the news,” Noveck wrote.

“Whom, they asked, would we ban next? ‘I vote we do the same for North Korea,’ one AP writer said facetiously.”

On the flip side, by tracking this dubious celebrity’s every move, has the media made a rod for its back: encouraging public demand for the minutiae of Ms Hilton’s life, loves and liaisons, along with her paid promotional appearances.

Some argue the “Paris virus” has spread as media outlets succumb to the one-size-fits-all malaise – covering stories because “everybody else is covering it, so we should too”.

At any rate, AP’s ban ended on February 27 when Hilton was arrested for driving with a suspended licence.

Now the challenge is set: which media organisation will dare to take the experiment beyond a week?

Photo: James Alcock, Sydney Morning Herald