Canberra Press Gallery

The Canberra Press Gallery, officially called the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, is the name given to the approximately 180 journalists and their support staff, including producers, editors and camera crews, who report the workings of the Australian Parliament. The name derives from the press galleries, which are enclosed viewing areas above the chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which the President and the Speaker have allocated to the media.

Use of the name

The expression "Canberra Press Gallery" also refers to the association of Gallery journalists which represents their professional interests in dealing with the Parliament. The current President of the Gallery is the ABC's Jane Norman. The vice-president is James Massola, the secretary is Jade Gailberger and the treasurer is Tom Connell.

Apart from the one and a half hours per sitting day of Question Time, journalists spend little time in the actual press gallery overlooking the floor of Parliament. Another area, also named the "press gallery" refers to the office space within the Parliament building, above the Senate chamber which includes television studios and radio booths where the gallery journalists spend most of their time compiling stories and communicating with editors.[1][2][3]

Role and influence

Australian academics have described the gallery as 'collectively responsible for the great majority of news stories about federal politics that appear in Australian Print and broadcast media'.[2]

Many of Australia's most influential journalists, such as Paul Bongiorno, Malcolm Farr, Michelle Grattan, Laurie Oakes, Glenn Milne, Mark Riley, Hugh Riminton, Dennis Shanahan, Jim Middleton, Karen Middleton, Sharri Markson, Phil Coorey, Chris Uhlmann and David Speers are or have been gallery members.

Media affiliations

Studios for the major TV networks are among the gallery; including the ABC, SBS, Channel Nine, Sky News, Channel Seven, Network Ten and other media partners.

Major newspapers that participate in the gallery include The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, The Courier-Mail, The West Australian, The Advertiser, The Canberra Times, Guardian Australia as well as playing host to radio station including 2UE, 3AW and 2GB.

References
  1. Clem Lloyd, Parliament and the Press: A History of the Canberra Press Gallery (1988)
  2. Ian Ward, "The media, power and politics," in Andrew Parkin et el, Government, Politics, Power and Policy in Australia, Pearson Education Australia (2006)
  3. Julian Fitzgerald Inside the Parliamentary Press Gallery: Seeing Beyond the Spin Clareville Press 2008
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