That’s Debatable ... 60 Years in Print
Tony Thomas
260 pages, ISBN 9781925501032
Paperback
$29.95
April 2016
“Just as Maori 'Once were warriors', so Tony Thomas makes you remember 'Once were journalists'... Our Media Studies academics are not making journalists like this any more. The essays on 'Climate Unfrocked' alone would make this book worth buying.”
-- John Stone, Secretary to the Commonwealth Treasury, 1979-84; Leader of the National Party in the Senate, 1987-90.
“Tony Thomas is an investigative journalist of rare abilities. When he latches onto a story his research is exhaustive and often leads to surprising insights that no one before him had ever made. His prose is always punchy and, even rarer, often very funny. I have read his articles on the Cold War and Australian Aborigines with enormous respect for his deep perception and respect for the truth. He is one of the finest journalists this country has ever produced.”
-- Keith Windschuttle, editor-in-chief, Quadrant.
“Once, it was common to encounter a Tony Thomas in Australia’s newsrooms. They were the wise and senior hands young reporters were encouraged to admire and emulate ...
They’re mostly gone now, the men and women who wore professional honesty and scepticism as their badges of honour, and we’re all the poorer for the banishment of those skills and voices. That is why the essays in this book are so valuable and the man who wrote them a treasure.”
-- Roger Franklin, Editor, Quadrant Online.
This book of 45 essays – ranging from purely humorous to politically and socially grave – provides samples of the lifetime’s work of a trained journalist of 60 years’ professional standing. Thomas was a prominent writer for The West Australian (1958-69); The Age as Economics Writer from the Canberra Press Gallery, (1971-79); and BRW Magazine from inception in 1981 to his retirement in 2001, including a decade as Associate Editor. He is currently a prolific contributor to Quadrant Monthly and Quadrant OnLine.
Thomas’ interests, particularly in the political, stem from his early childhood indoctrination into Communism, followed by an adult reaction towards conservatism. Suffice to say he has ink and politics in his veins.
