Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 09 October
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Australia’s leading editorial executives will be quizzed on the performance of journalism in Australia, and the main issues facing journalism over the last year – and in the year ahead. Will we award them an A+ or suggest they could do better?
With Kate Torney (director of news, ABC), Mark Forbes (news director, the Age), Emily Wilson (editor, Guardian Australia) and Damon Johnston (editor, the Herald Sun). Chaired by Margaret Simons, director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism.
Featuring
Kate Torney OAM
Kate Torney has extensive experience in the Australian media, cultural and philanthropic sectors, having spent 20 years at the ABC, including six as News Director, six years as Chief Executive of the State Library of Victoria and now as CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation
Opened in 1856, the State Library is now one of the most visited libraries in the world and Kate led an $88 million redevelopment to reimagine services and stunning heritage spaces for the 21st century.
During Kate’s time at the ABC, she led a team of 1,400 reporters and production colleagues across Australia and globally. She also oversaw the major review that led to the ABC’s successful re-orientation towards digital platforms, including the launch of the ABC News channel and the expansion of ABC News online.
In October 2021, Kate joined the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation which supports the work of some of the world’s leading cancer researchers.
View ProfileEmily Wilson
Emily Wilson is editor-in-chief of Guardian Australia. Emily joined the Guardian 14 years ago and has worked as health editor, science section editor, features editor, news section editor and most recently network editor of the UK edition of the Guardian’s website.
She took over Guardian Australia from launch editor Katharine Viner in June 2014.
Damon Johnston
Damon has been editor of the Herald Sun since July 2012.
Under Damon’s editorship, the Herald Sun was awarded the newspaper of the year prize at the 2013 News Awards, with the citation being: ‘the Newspaper of the Year Award was won by the Herald Sun, which in late 2012 set itself a goal of significantly improving its storytelling, community engagement and audience targets. With powerful news coverage, compelling sport content, deeply engaging community events and highly efficient marketing campaigns, the Herald Sun achieved its goals.’
Prior to being editor of the Herald Sun, Damon was editor of the Sunday Herald Sun, a position he had held since November 2008. Before this, he was deputy editor of the Herald Sun, having been chief of staff since he returned from New York in March 2003.
Damon was posted to New York in 2000 to work for News Ltd publications, covering the attacks of September 11 and other significant global stories.
Damon was chief political reporter for the Herald Sun and covered the fall of Jeff Kennett and the rise of Steve Bracks at the 1999 election.
Mark Forbes
Mark was appointed to the editor in chief of the Age in April this year. For the past three years Mark Forbes has been News Director of the Age, responsible for content across all platforms, social, online, mobile, iPad and print, as the operational leader of the newsroom.
As an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent, Mark won numerous awards, including several Quill Awards, a Walkley Award for an expose of Australia’s role in the international steroid trade and the United Nations Media Peace Prize for a ground-breaking journey into Indonesia’s Papua province.
After returning from Indonesia, where he was Fairfax correspondent, Mark became editor of the Sunday Age, which was named the Asia-Pacific’s Sunday newspaper of the year in 2012 by PANPA.
Mark has also worked with Channel Seven and Four Corners, and has a Masters in Strategic Affairs from the ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre.
Margaret Simons
Margaret Simons is Associate Professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University. In 2015, she won the Walkley Award for Social Equity Journalism. Her recent books include Six Square Metres, Self-Made Man: The Kerry Stokes Story, What's Next in Journalism?, Journalism at the Crossroads and Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs, co-written with former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser. The latter won both the Book of the Year and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2011.
In addition to her academic work, Margaret regularly writes for the Saturday Paper, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review, the Monthly and other publications.