Monday, October 1, 2012

MELANCHOLY MEDIA PASSING PARADE

On buying The Australian and  some lollies ( for a shot of quick energy)  at Townsville Airport on September  17, the woman at the counter broke the news that  the price of the daily   and  the weekend  edition  would be  going  up soon , the weekender  by  30 cents. Opening   the  paper , I  went  to  the  MEDIA   section and  soon felt  in  need  of   a monkey gland injection, some ground up NZ  deer antler and  a  trepang  sandwich  with  a  dash of  krill  because  of   the  discovery  that  I  must  be  an old  scribe

 There  was  former  NT News reporter,  Errol Simper, describing himself  as  your ancient  correspondent.”   As  I regard myself as  being   roughly of  the  same vintage as  Errol  (give or take a  statistical error of  five  to 15 years)   and   am  beyond  the  biblical  three score and  10, I realised  why   Dorian Gray  is  often seen in my shaving mirror 

 And on the very same page  was  a  piece by  the paper’s  marketing  writer  since  2003  , Simon  Canning.   His  photo portrayed a  smiling individual with  receding  hair. Ye Gods!  I knew Simon  when he was just   a   young lad  and his genial  father , John, who had  an artificial   leg which fell off on the way to the pub,   was   the  editor  of  the Sunday News  , Auckland , New Zealand,  back in the l960s.  Where   have  the  years, prosthetics ,  journos , great photographers  and  hair gone ?    It   was  Simon’s last  article  for the paper because he said he had  accepted a redundancy payment . He wrote of the crisis  in  journalism  because of  the dramatic  drop in newspaper   advertising  revenue due to  the digital age and the drying up of the rivers of gold .   During  past weeks, he continued, newspaper rooms across   the country had   been interrupted  by  outbreaks of applause  as reporters  , sub editors and , artists and even editors   had taken  redundancy. A sad and melancholy situation . His  article covered   the  fact  that  apart from the ABC, journalism required investment by  advertisers  to survive.

 On the same page was  another  familiar old  face, Mark Day, who  seems to have been  reporting  since  there was   a  gossip sheet   in  the Garden of  Eden.   While I do not recollect  having ever met  Mark , his name  is firmly imbedded in my  mind  for some reason , possibly due to the time he ran Truth .  I  reflected   on    media  mates  who  have   been made  redundant  in recent years, disappeared , met the last deadline . 

 Lobbing back in Darwin, there was  another unexpected  reminder of  bygone  media personalities.  The NT Police Museum and Historical Society  website now sports    old  8mm  film   footage  salvaged  by  ProVideo (run by former  Darwin  ABC   top gun , Bill Fletcher ) from  the  collection  made   by  the  late Inspector Jim Mannion, covering   a  variety of subjects, including   several news  events in  Darwin.   Former NT News  editor Jim  Bowditch  is  seen  with American actor/magician  John Calvert   who sailed into port in the Sea  Fox ,the crew including  a  chainsmoking  chimp and curvaceous   Pilita,  and entertained  the city by driving  a  car while   blindfolded  along  Smith Street ; Melbourne  Herald  Darwin  based  correspondent  Douglas Lockwood  is spotted  at  the 50th anniversary   of   the  l908  first crossing of  the continent in 51 days  from  Adelaide   in  a    Talbot  car  driven  by Harry Dutton  and Murray Auger;   keen  photographer Joe  Karlhuber, who pioneered the  photographic department in the NT News  back in the old tin bank days  ,  is  filmed   in  the water at   Vestey’s Beach  covering  a  spectacular   display   by  skilled  waterskiers  .   Mannion   aspired to  be a reporter in  his  younger days ,  wrote  boxing  reports for The Ring  magazine ,  joined  the  NT Police Force instead, received two medals for bravery,  and captured  the  Territory  on still and movie film .------ Peter Simon .