Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2019

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I took a rebel stand on my outfit for this year’s “Andrew Olle Media Lecture”. Though I’ve been attending the lecture for over twenty years (only missing one, the year I lived in Western Australia) dressing for it is pretty simple.

As a man, all you need to worry about is a tuxedo and a bow-tie. In contrast, a friend/colleague mentioned on Facebook earlier in the week, she was struggling with her outfit, while trying to maintain her carbon footprint. “Do I what I’ve done”, I told her, adding “only two outfits in twenty years, and the only change has been a few different bow-ties”.

For this year’s lecture, I splurged on some new socks and jocks, but when it came to the bow-tie, I ummed and ahhed. I looked through my collection of bow-ties, which ranged from the traditional black, to blue, green, red and rainbow (worn in the run up to the Same Sex Marriage Survey) and I wasn’t impressed. “They’re all so boring”, I thought to myself.

In the end, I decided to go sans bow-tie, and what an awesome decision that was! You should never have to wear a tie in Sydney during November!!
Peter Fitzsimons delivered a terrific lecture focusing on the many changes he hadsseen in journalism over the last thirty years, in which he name-checked some AWESOME journalists.
Andrew Olle Scholar, Danny Tran delivered an awesome speech about press freedom.
I had a lovely chat with two of Andrew Olle’s children, Nina and Sam. I’ve known Nina very well over many years, and actually gave her one of her first jobs. I didn’t know Sam as well, though he’d worked previously with one of my friends many years ago, who he remembered as “The ABBA Guy”. When this all started, the kids, Nina, Sam and Nick were young adults.
Some of my awesome colleagues.

Not wearing a tie was a really wonderful thing. I felt much more relaxed than in previous years. A couple of friends agreed it was terrific not to have to spend the night relaxing and not having to worry about “networking”. Oh yeah, and this year I was seated outside of the “main camera view”, so I didn’t have to worry about looking too much like a “lush” by drinking during the televised part of the speech!!

2 Replies to “Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2019”

  1. While I can’t imagine why I did so, I came across a photo in my mother’s collection of me wearing a a skinny tie at my sister’s 21st. I don’t think I have worn one since. Ties are pretty stupid now.

    Reply

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