Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Friday 10 November
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
It’s a quiet night in the newsroom. Then, a story breaks – and reports begin flooding in. Our panel has mere seconds to make a series of key, high stakes choices. What do they report? Where do they find sources? Should they be first with breaking news – or last with verified news?
In a fast-paced game of wit and grit, our gun reporters lay out their decision-making processes in a high stakes hypothetical. Who is endangered by reporting on conflict, and what is a journalist’s responsibility when police, politicians or the military ask them to hold off on stories?
Julian Burnside will take our expert panel through all the dilemmas of breaking news on war – where ethical complexities must become microsecond decisions.
Chaired by Julian Burnside, with Jim Middleton and Gael Jennings.
New News is presented in partnership with the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne, and Monash University.
Featuring
Julian Burnside
Julian Burnside is a Melbourne barrister. He joined the Bar in 1976 and took silk in 1989. He specialises in commercial litigation, and has acted in many very contentious cases - the MUA Waterfront dispute; the Cash-for-Comment enquiry; cases for Alan Bond and Rose Porteous - but has become known for his human rights work and has acted pro bono in many refugee cases.
He is an outspoken opponent of the mistreatment of people who come to Australia seeking protection from persecution. His latest book is Watching Out: Reflections on Justice and Injustice (Scribe).
Jim Middleton
Jim Middleton has been reporting national and international affairs since 1970, first for the ABC and now as a correspondent for Sky News. For two decades, he was ABC Political Editor in Canberra – covering Prime Ministers Hawke, Keating and Howard.
He was ABC North America correspondent in New York and Washington from 1980–1986, and has reported from every country in North, South and Southeast Asia – except North Korea. From 2008 to 2014, he presented Newsline and The World, broadcasting to and from Asia on Australia Network TV.
From 2008 until 2015, he was a member of the board of the Australia-Thailand Institute for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
Gael Jennings
Gael Jennings is an award-winning national TV and radio broadcaster with 25 years’ experience as presenter, reporter and TV executive.
She was the ABC’s first national science and medical reporter for TV News, and for the 7.30 Report, presenter of 7.30 Report, reporter of ABC TV’s Quantum and Catalyst, host of ABC radio 774’s mid-morning and afternoon programs, Insight presenter on SBS, and a development producer with ABC TV. She is an award-winning author of two non-fiction books and is a regular commentator on ABC TV News Breakfast and 774 ABC radio. Gael is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism.