0/5

Oakes: "A black day"

Sunday has been much more than a political program,” writes the esteemed Mr. Laurie Oakes today in the Herald Sun.

“The journalists who made it great – among them Jim Waley, Alan Hogan, Peter Luck, Andrew Olle, Jennifer Byrne, Charles Woolley, Graham Davis, Ian Frykberg, Peter Thompson, Tom Krause – held a mirror up to the nation.

“But I think it’s the pollies who will miss the program most.

“One of them said to me during a commercial break recently: ‘Being interviewed on Sunday is like going to the dentist.’

And he’s right. Oakes’ sat in a chair like a walrus, grimly eyeballing our country’s pollies with nothing between them but his folder of notes. Politicians would never know where he would go next, knowing he would hit them hard, allow a right of reply and end on a positive note.

Nine says Oakes interviews will be incorporated into its revamped 8am bulletin on Sunday mornings, but it’s hard not to see this as a closing chapter in Oakes’ stellar career.

And there are a couple of other notable contributors who also deserve a mention. Peter Thompson for years presented the show’s film reviews, more recently helmed by Nell Schofield. Max Cullen’s portrait pieces were quiet achievements. Ross Coulthart’s investigative stories, including one about the so-called Butcher of Bega, speak for themselves.

“Now, after nearly 27 years on air, Sunday itself has been killed,” says Oakes. “For those of us who have been proudly associated with the program it is a black day.

“Like The Bulletin magazine, which was put to the sword at the beginning of the year, it has died because it was not making money.

“RIP.”

Source: Herald Sun

Leave a Reply