Lest we start to be accused of harbouring an unhealthy obsession – or, heaven forbid, be held responsible for an uptick in sales – we promise this is the last missive on our Book Of The Week, Chris Mitchell's Making Headlines (available in all good bookstores!)
On page 224, we learn that one of The Oz's Brisbane reporters, Mark Schliebs "found" the famous photo of the seven year-old son of Australian terrorist, Khaled Sharrouf holding a severed head aloft – except that it was in fact the paper's national security editor Paul Maley who uncovered the pic. And he won various awards for his efforts.
So many employees, so hard to keep track.
And on page 64 he refers to Brian Loughnane as the "president" of the Liberal Party – except that he was the Federal Director.
Hey – it's a long book – covering off a distinguished 40-plus year career in journalism (and full respect to anyone who edits a newspaper for as long he did). And in the Maley case, Mitchell is known to have provided the paper's unwavering support when the security editor was receiving death threats for his coverage.
"I uncovered the picture of Sharrouf's son," Maley tells us. "But it was Chris who decided to run the image, which he knew would be controversial, but also iconic of the Syrian conflict. When the death threats came – and they did – Chris subsequently spent a small fortune on security to protect me, my family and other journalists on the paper. Chris always backed his journos."
Credit where it's due.
The book is being launched Friday in Sydney by none other than PM Malcolm Turnbull – the one modern-day PM who appears not to have been burned in the tome. It is understood Kevin Rudd will be travelling. Or in a sauna having dinner somewhere.
