News

Maxine McKew to give major University of Melbourne lecture

Media Release, Thursday 9 November 2000

Award winning Australian journalist, Maxine McKew, will give the 2000 AN Smith Lecture in Journalism at the University of Melbourne.

The lecture - Life as a Content Provider - will draw on Ms McKew's 25-year career as a journalist working in all aspects of television reporting in Australia and overseas. She claims that with her colleagues in television, these days she is categorised as a 'content provider' . The lecture will examine what that means for the future of the media.

Rated as one of Australia's most experienced and authoritative interviewers she is the winner of two major awards - a Walkley and a Logie - recognising her outstanding contributions to both Australian journalism and television.

Ms McKew made her reputation on the ABC's prestigious Lateline program where she interviewed a host of international political figures including Madeleine Albright, Tony Blair, B.J.Habibe, Shimon Peres and Aung San Suu Kyi. She is now is a regular writer for The Bulletin magazine and an alternative anchor on the ABC's, 7.30 Report.

The 2000 AN Smith Lecture in Journalism is on Thursday 30 November 2000 at 6.00 pm in the Public Lecture Theatre, Old Arts Building. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Maxine McKew's reporting has taken her to many parts of the world including a period as political correspondent for both the ABC and the Ten Network in Washington and New York. She maintains a strong regional interest, particularly in the political and economics challenges facing many of Australia's northern neighbours.

The AN Smith Lecture in Journalism commemorates Arthur Norman Smith, a leading political journalist and a founder of the Australian Journalists Association. Over its 60-year history, the lecture has attracted a series of distinguished speakers and is regarded as a most prestigious lecture on journalism in Australia.

Among the previous speakers are Rupert Murdoch, Paul Kelly (then editor of The Australian), former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, political commentator Michelle Grattan, Mary Delahunty (then a television journalist) and cartoonist Bruce Petty.