0/5

All eyes on Laurie Oakes

Could Laurie Oakes announce his retirement at the Andrew Olle Media Lecture on Friday? Whatever he says will be worth hearing.

Tomorrow night Laurie Oakes will give an address at the Andrew Olle Media Lecture, and if he’s as vocal about politics and media as he’s been in the past then this will be worth hearing.

After the long-running Sunday was axed he wrote it was a “black day” for those who had been associated with the show. He once criticised Nine’s hiring of Mark Latham as a 60 Minutes guest reporter, saying: “I don’t really think it does 60 Minutes or the network much of a favour, really, to have him posing as a journalist.”

Everyone knows Pollies also pay attention whenever Oakes speaks.

Already there is specualtion he may be ready to announce his retirement,  fuelled by talk that several Nine News and Current Affairs faces have been told to clear their diaries to attend the black tie dinner at The Westin Hotel in Sydney.

Rumours about Oakes’ retiring have been around before. He’ll probably never stop talking about Canberra while there are plenty who will listen.

A Nine spokesperson talked down the speculation, telling TV Tonight that the great man recently signed a long-term contract with the network.

Oakes has hed a stellar 18 months of scoops and accolades including Walkley Awards, Logie Awards, Quill Awards.

The Andrew Olle Media Lecture will be hosted by 702 ABC Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover and can be heard from 9pm on ABC NewsRadio, abc.net.au/sydney and will screen on Sunday night at 10:30pm on ABC1.

10 Responses

  1. Margaret Throsby did an interesting interview with Laurie Oakes on ABC Classic FM yesterday. Shows more of his personal side. Worth a listen. It’s at abc.net.au/classic/content/2011/10/20/3343674.htm

  2. It will be a sad day. I am a Labour voter and do not see any bias. I have seen him attack both sides when it is needed. I remember when we had some real political journalists such as Richard Carlton and paul Lyneham on the ABC and Mike willesee. This year we lost Kerry O’Brien from 7 30 Report. If Laurie goes our politicians will get a real easy run which is not good for democracy.

  3. geez Moanique… good call…not…this man has broke some of the biggest political stories i wouldnt know his number…but i doubt any other TV journalist comes close to the amount of stories this guy has broke…. take away any anti 9 issues…and he is one of Australias most respected political journalists

  4. I thought he had already announced his retirement. I’ve always thought that he isn’t as important as he thinks he is. There are plenty of political journalists around, it’s not rocket science.

Leave a Reply