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 Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-g ...
. The name derives from the press galleries, which are enclosed viewing areas above the chambers of the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, which the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and the
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
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
David Speers
David Gordon Speers (born 9 September 1974 in Inverell, Australia) is an Australian journalist and host of '' Insiders'' on ABC TV.
Previously he was political editor at Sky News Australia, as well as host of '' PM Agenda'', '' The Last Wor ...
, host and presenter for ABC TV's Insiders. The vice-president is Andrew Meares and the secretary is Eliza Borrello.
Apart from the one and a half hours per sitting day of
Question Time
A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...
, 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.Ian Ward, "The media, power and politics," in Andrew Parkin et el, ''Government, Politics, Power and Policy in Australia'', Pearson Education Australia (2006)Julian Fitzgerald ''Inside the Parliamentary Press Gallery: Seeing Beyond the Spin'' Clareville Press 2008
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'.
Many of Australia's most influential journalists, such as
Paul Bongiorno
Paul Damian Bongiorno (born 1944) is an Australian political journalist and commentator.
Personal life
Bongiorno grew up in Ballarat, Victoria, and was educated by the Christian Brothers at St Patrick's College and Drummond Street in Ballara ...
,
Malcolm Farr
Malcolm Farr (born 2 August 1951 ) is a political journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery covering the Parliament of Australia in Canberra, Australia, Canberra, Australia.
Work
Based in Canberra, Farr is the National Political Editor for News. ...
Laurie Oakes
Laurie Oakes (born 14 August 1943 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is an Australian retired journalist. He worked in the Canberra Press Gallery from 1969 to 2017, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections for print, radio, and ...
Hugh Riminton
Hugh Riminton (born 1961) is an Australian foreign correspondent, journalist and television news presenter. He is currently national affairs editor and occasional presenter of '' 10 News First'' (formerly '' Ten Eyewitness News''). He previousl ...
,
Dennis Shanahan
Dennis Shanahan is a political editor of ''The Australian'', a newspaper in Australia.
Shanahan has been a journalist at major newspapers for "almost forty years".Karen Middleton,
Sharri Markson
Sharri Markson (born 1984) is an Australian journalist and author. She is investigations editor at '' The Australian'' and host of the Sky News Australia program ''Sharri'', which airs on Sunday evenings. She is the winner of numerous awards in ...
,
Chris Uhlmann
Christopher Gerald Uhlmann (born 24 June 1960) is an Australian former journalist and television presenter.
Career
Uhlmann was formerly a seminarian, a security guard, and a journalist with ''The Canberra Times'' before joining the Australian ...
and
David Speers
David Gordon Speers (born 9 September 1974 in Inverell, Australia) is an Australian journalist and host of '' Insiders'' on ABC TV.
Previously he was political editor at Sky News Australia, as well as host of '' PM Agenda'', '' The Last Wor ...
are gallery members.
Media affiliations
Studios for the major TV networks are among the gallery; including the ABC, SBS, Channel Nine,
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...
and other media partners.
Major newspapers that participate in the gallery ''include
The Australian Financial Review
''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'', ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'', ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'', ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', the ''
Herald Sun
The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald ...
'', ''
The Courier-Mail
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northe ...
'', ''
The West Australian
''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, '' The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuous ...
The Canberra Times
''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times.
History
''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...
'' and '' Inside Canberra'', as well as playing host to Fairfax radio's 2UE/3AW and to Sydney station 2GB.