Looking like an old style Russian anarchist, bushy- bearded journalist, commentator and author , Mungo MacCallum, hurled entertaining verbal bombs at the media during his Darwin talk about the lousy reporting of politics in Australia . He also proffered wise advice which Noel Coward would have given the many Mrs Worthingtons of Darwin who might like to see their daughters’ bylines on the page of a newspaper.
In answer to a question from a female who stated many people wanting to enter university journalism courses were found to be illiterate, Mungo said he was no great fan of such courses.
They just taught the technical aspects which could be picked up in spare time . To become a journalist, you needed two things : an insatiable, always sceptical sense of curiosity about what is going on around you , and be able to perform under pressure. ( As an aside, which drew laughs, he said it also helped to learn not to become an alcoholic .)
If a person wanted to take a uni course it should be something useful like politics, law, arts , science , not journalism . Perhaps a sign of the political times , there was a strong representation of women in the audience, including NT Legislative Assembly Speaker , Jane Aagaard .
Assorted spin doctors in the gathering may have winced when Mungo spoke of the deleterious influence of these people PR flacks and immature youngsters running ministerial offices in Canberra. ( Second part with coverage of other subjects raised will be posted soon ).
In answer to a question from a female who stated many people wanting to enter university journalism courses were found to be illiterate, Mungo said he was no great fan of such courses.
They just taught the technical aspects which could be picked up in spare time . To become a journalist, you needed two things : an insatiable, always sceptical sense of curiosity about what is going on around you , and be able to perform under pressure. ( As an aside, which drew laughs, he said it also helped to learn not to become an alcoholic .)
If a person wanted to take a uni course it should be something useful like politics, law, arts , science , not journalism . Perhaps a sign of the political times , there was a strong representation of women in the audience, including NT Legislative Assembly Speaker , Jane Aagaard .
Assorted spin doctors in the gathering may have winced when Mungo spoke of the deleterious influence of these people PR flacks and immature youngsters running ministerial offices in Canberra. ( Second part with coverage of other subjects raised will be posted soon ).
