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 .
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 .
