Occupation journalist, author Education University of Sydney Nationality Australian | Role Journalist Name Laurie Oakes Awards Logie Awards Hall of Fame | |
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Born 14 August 1943 (age 80) ( 1943-08-14 ) Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Books Labor's 1979 conference, Adelaide Nominations Logie Award for Most Outstanding News Reporter Profiles | ||
Journalism in an era of metadata and mass surveillance laurie oakes
Laurie Oakes (born 14 August 1943 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian political print and radio/television journalist, author and media commentator. He has worked in the Canberra Press Gallery since 1964, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections.
Contents
- Journalism in an era of metadata and mass surveillance laurie oakes
- Laurie oakes gold walkley speech
- Early career
- Later career
- Personal politics
- Awards
- Books
- References
Laurie oakes gold walkley speech
Early career
Oakes was educated at Lithgow High School and graduated in 1964 from the University of Sydney while working part-time with the Sydney Daily Mirror.
At the age of 25 he was the Melbourne Sun's Canberra Bureau Chief and while working for that paper he began providing political commentaries for the TV program, Willesee at Seven. In 1978 he began The Laurie Oakes Report, a televised political journal. In 1979 he joined Network Ten and worked there for five years. He has since written about politics for The Age in Melbourne and the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney. He commentates for several radio stations.
In 1980 he obtained a draft copy of the Australian federal budget, before it was delivered in Parliament.
Later career
In 1997, Oakes used leaked documents to report on abuse of parliamentary travel expenses, which ended the careers of three ministers, several other politicians and some of their staff. More recently he used leaked documents showing the Rudd Government ignored warnings from four key departments about its Fuelwatch scheme.
Oakes has been a weekly contributor to various Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) owned media outlets, including the former Channel 9 television program, Sunday. He has also been a regular reporter for Nine News. He wrote a weekly column for The Bulletin magazine until it ceased publication in January, 2008. Oakes now writes for news.com.au publications.
He has announced his intention to retire on 18 August 2017.
Personal politics
In a 2004 interview, Oakes said: "My personal politics are pretty much in the middle, I would think. I've voted both ways at various times. I don't know if perceptions about my politics influence whether people will be interviewed. [Paul] Keating used to boycott the program every now and again; not because he thought I was a Liberal but because he thought I wouldn't toe the line. Paul believed in rewards and punishment."
In his book The Latham Diaries, former ALP leader Mark Latham said that Oakes's nickname in political circles was "Jabba the Hutt". Oakes has also been nicknamed the "Sphere of Influence" by Crikey.
Awards
In 1998 Oakes won the Walkley Award for journalistic leadership, and again in 2001 for television news reporting. He claimed the Gold Walkley in 2010 for his reporting of Labor leaks during the federal election campaign.
In 2011, Oakes was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.
He delivered the 2011 Andrew Olle Media Lecture.