'Leaks, Scoops and Scandals – The Press Gallery 1927-1988' announced a display board as we walked down the corridors of the Old Parliament in Canberra. Australia. Remembering the good old days of reporting in our own old Parliament (present Presidential Secretariat) for the 'Dinamina', I was naturally intrigued to find out what was being exhibited in the Press Gallery. And it proved to be a most interesting and exciting visit.
As we walk into a room, a vintage telephone rings. A conversation begins. In another room, an old Remington typewriter adorns a small writing table. A pencil, a smoker's pipe, a seal, a few papers and a table lamp are also on the table giving the impression someone had just been working there. There are several such tables.
Moving on to a larger room, there is some recording equipment including a spool tape recorder of yesteryear rarely used in the present cassette and CD era, an amplifier and a pair of speakers. In another room was an unusual sight – over half a dozen typewriters mounted on the wall. In yet another, a hat and an overcoat hang in a corner. A whole heap of visiting cards and notes are displayed on a board giving a live situation. Moving over from one room to another, one got the feeling that they were all being used.
Narratives well illustrated with photographs make interesting reading. Most of them are impressions of senior journalists. One gives a brief description of what the Press Gallery is. "The Press Gallery is a Parliamentary Chamber where journalists get to observe and then report speeches and events. It is a gallery or balcony overlooking the floor of the Chamber.
"The term 'Press Gallery' describes both a series of places and a group of journalists. The 'press' is a shorthand way of describing a group of journalists and others involved in reporting news. At first most Australians got their news from newspapers which were printed on a printing press. These days the term involves journalists and others who work for radio, television, magazines and internet based news services."
Press boxes had been used to place documents which the journalists collected. "Media organizations and individuals working in the Press Gallery were allocated a press box. All press releases issued by the Government and the Opposition, reports tabled in Parliament, and statements made by anyone wanting to get information to the national media could be placed in the boxes.
"Each day hundreds of handouts went into the boxes to be processed by the journalists. In larger news bureaux or offices, it could be someone's full time job to sort out the material in those boxes. A bell was rung when important press releases were issued. Journalists came running from their offices to get the latest news. The press boxes were at cross roads in the gallery as they were at the top of stairs most used by journalists and at a junction of passageways leading to the offices and the Press Gallery itself."
Journalists work on deadlines when the copy should be sent to office to meet a particular time schedule. "The editor would often ring and say "mate, mate – I am holding all the trucks. Could you get it to me quickly," a journalist recalls.
A veteran journalist describes Canberra in the early days: "Canberra was then a very small place, not much bigger than a small country town and Ministers and members of the press could hardly get out of each other's hair."
Another has this to say about the relationship between the press and Members of Parliament: "Press Gallery members and politicians work together intimately in the House. In the small and isolated Canberra community they also spend time together socially. In the early days they stayed in the same hostels and before it was prohibited they shared drinks and yarns on the verandah outside the Members' Bar. They became used to this camaraderie whilst travelling together on trains between Canberra and the state capitals." |
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