Posts in "Commentary"

Twenty-six years ago Lady (Mary) Fairfax granted me one of the few interviews she ever did to discuss her purported role in the then decimation of Fairfax, the oldest media company in the world. Following her death this week her story bears repeating. It is one for the ages. http://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mary-Fairfax.pdf

All of us as journalists are grappling with new ways to tell our stories and this is arguably one of the most exciting acts of reinvention to date: Stories for the Stage … everything from comedy and culture to crime and politics; from the back blocks of Brisbane and highlands of Papua New Guinea, to …

This is the live press conference of Midnight Oil announcing its “Great Circle 2017” world tour on Sydney Harbour. It comes from the band’s Facebook feed and starts 30 min 55 sec in. Enjoy https://www.facebook.com/midnightoilofficial/

Forty three years ago I applied to be the lead singer of Midnight Oil. Needless to say I didn’t get the job, despite singing Jethro Tull’s Locomotive Breath completely in tune. They gave the job to the other guy because he could actually dance and sing. Today, however, after more than four decades of heroic …

Alan Jones, the Grand Inquisitor of Radio Talkback, is now in a firestorm of his own making. His loathsome comments about the death of the Prime Minister’s father, John Gillard, have blown up in his face with a number of key advertisers now deserting his top-rating breakfast show and a growing social media backlash showing …

“I know more than any scientist in my inner heart … I know everything about the universe and how it works. I can answer any question about any mystery in the world, any mystery in the universe.” – Serge Benhayon’s message for the “New Era”, January 1, 2012. A few years before Serge Benhayon realised …

A three year project documenting the life and musical career of Paul Kelly has now been completed. On Saturday, August 4, the film had its premier at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It will have one-off screenings in all Australian capital cities during October/November (for tickets, dates and to view the trailer click here )

Twelve years ago, in the rapture of the 2000 Olympics Closing Ceremony, you could almost feel the elation sweeping the globe when Men at Work’s Greg Ham offered up his immortal flute riff on Down Under to a television audience of nearly 4 billion, and a capacity crowd of 110,000 mostly dancing souls inside Sydney’s …

The Canadian teenage superstar has just turned 18 and the Justin Juggernaut continues. David Leser recalls the Bieber tour Down Under and his awakening to Bieber Fever. The tender hearts of Australia’s female youth are probably still palpitating, but now that he has departed our shores it might be a good time to get some …

As Julian Assange awaits a British Supreme Court challenge to his extradition to Sweden this story looks at the early life of a computer wizard who became one of the most wanted men in the world. Nearly two decades ago in the hills outside Melbourne Julian Assange would go to sleep in the early hours …