The
image on the right shows some of the delegates at the welcoming conference.
21st June 1999
Well here I was feeling like an outsider with the movers and shakers of the "media" world. And what a small world it had become. I had arrived at Brisbane's Marriott Hotel just after 4.30pm and was to be the only photographer covering the event..
The
image on the right shows some of the delegates at the welcoming conference.
The delegates kit shows that there were:
| Overseas | 32 |
| Australian University | 20 |
| Australian Mainstream Media | 12 |
| Non-mainstream Media | 3 |
| Australian Press Council | 14 |
| Legal Profession | 6 |
| United Nations | 2 |
| Other | 3 |
| Total | 92 |
The only newspapers which are represented in any way were The Courier-Mail by David Solomon (a speaker) and John Dunnet while the Sydney Morning Herald is represented by Ian Hicks. Papers like The Australian, West Australian Newspapers, the Australian Financial Review and the Canberra Times are not represented at all. It was a sad reflection on the interest of the mainstream media in ethical reporting that so few reporters were allowed to attend.
The
welcome by the chairman of the Australian Press Council (APC), Prof Dennis
Pearce was informal - there was no speech per se. Prof Pearce (second left-
bearded), seen right with Jacqui and Daryl Tarte and Sue Ahern (right in
pic) the Executive Producer of News and Current Affairs at ABC's Radio Australia.
Delegates were able to walk around and chat with the small numbers at the launch meaning that access to some very influential people was very simple.
Amongst those I met and chatted at some length with was Professor David Flint Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. Prof Flint, seen left with Mr Ramasingam Gunasingam the WAPC Secretary General and Chairman of the International Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention in Schools (based in Kuala Lumpur). Flint and Gunasingam in pictures below.
Prof Flint has promised to send me an email clarifying the powers of the ABA over the Internet and, from what I gathered from him in informal discussions, the media hype over the extent of the ABA's influence is wildly exaggerated and will not extend to freedom of speech in any way whatsoever.
It
was good to touch base with Jack Herman, The Executive Secretary of the APC
again. In the picture on the right he is with Daya Lankapura a member of
the Sri Lanka Press Council and owner of Sri Lanka's largest weekly paper
(left) and S Dammulla the Press Commissioner for the Sri Lanka Press Council.
I left the informal welcome at about 7.30pm... I am looking forward to meeting the Queensland Premier later this morning (22nd June) at 9am.