Grattan, Michelle (1944-)

Field of activity
Editor, Journalist and Print Journalist
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-614223

Biographies

Specialising in political journalism, Michelle Grattan has written and edited for many significant Australian newspapers. Her long and distinguished career in journalism began in 1970 at the Melbourne Age, where she is currently (2008) the Political Editor.

Michelle Grattan studied politics at the University of Melbourne, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours). She worked as a tutor in politics at Monash University before joining The Age in 1970. From 1971, Grattan was working in the Canberra press gallery for The Age, and became the newspaper's chief political correspondent in 1976. She received the Graham Perkin Award as Australian Journalist of the Year in 1988. That same year, she delivered the Arthur Norman Smith Memorial Lecture in Journalism. The lecture, 'Reporting Federal Politics', examined the difficulties of being a senior political journalist. Political journalism, said Grattan, was deadline-driven. It meant 'dealing with instant history: catching the moment, making quick judgements'. The political journalist had to learn to work in the small, insular world of the press gallery; to penetrate bureaucracy; to avoid the tactics of propagandists, including press secretaries and ministerial staff; and to maintain the delicate relationships between themselves and the politicians who could make or break their stories. Above all, they had to avoid being pulled into the fray, being coerced, or taking sides: 'objectivity is an impossible dream', Grattan admitted, but at the very least 'we should think in terms of "fairness"… presenting the debate in a balanced way'.

In 1993, Michelle Grattan left her post at The Age to take up an appointment as editor of The Canberra Times, making her the first female editor of a metropolitan daily newspaper in Australia. She remained at The Canberra Times for two years before returning to The Age as political editor in 1995. With twenty-five years of experience then behind her, Grattan had much to say in debates around the perceived impending doom of the Australian newspaper. In September 1995, she delivered the Walter Murdoch Memorial Lecture - 'Headline, Deadline, Bottom Line: The Case for Good Journalism' - in which she acknowledged that newspaper circulation rates were dropping; papers were under threat from more technologically sophisticated forms of media; the roles of editor and marketer were increasingly blurred; newspaper companies were transforming from family-owned operations to major conglomerates; and, perhaps most critically, newspapers were not necessarily producing 'first-rate' journalism, 'the kind that tells people what they would not otherwise know, tweaks the tails of the power wielders, turns over rocks to stir the dark life beneath'. Though newspaper staffs had broadened, including more women, for example, they had also become more homogeneous. Newsrooms were inclined to be 'politically and journalistically correct', said Grattan, but too much 'sameness' was a danger.

Three years later Grattan was delivering another paper, this time to an audience at the University of Queensland's Department of Journalism, where she had accepted an honorary appointment as Adjunct Professor. Here Grattan openly criticised what she termed the 'ascendancy of commercialisation in Australian newspapers'. In contrast to the late 80s when editorial independence was 'the hot talk of Australian journalism', the late 90s were witness to a worrying degree of censorship and collusion. The country's newspapers were under the control of a small number of dominant men - most notably the Murdoch and Fairfax operations - and media companies were hand-in-hand with government and business. Of Murdoch's company, News Corp, Grattan observed: its 'national and international interests are so vast that no day can pass when one bit of the empire is not faced with the task of reporting on another section of the empire'. Large media companies had taken to employing 'high level political operatives' who held sway with the government. Meanwhile, some journalists were compromising themselves by accepting formal stakeholder status in the media companies employing them. Editors were being re-branded as publishers, responsible for appeasing advertisers, employers, and the readership: 'The modern editor thinks of his paper as a supermarket for readers, selling a guide to modern living, as much as a conveyor of news and views'. The 'journalistically brave' editor who offended a political power centre had far less protection than he once had: he could be (and frequently was) easily replaced.

As a respected journalist and household name, Grattan has played a significant role in influencing public opinion. She has published material on the Australian Labor Party specifically (Managing Government: Labor's Achievements and Failures, 1993), but critiques both major parties based upon policy and personal conduct (see 'Selfish cry from a man who no longer gives a damn' following Mark Latham's attack on the Labor Party, The Age, 19 June 2005), and she wrote the biographical chapter on former Prime Minister John Howard in her edited collection, Australian Prime Ministers (2000). Grattan approves of those who stand up for a worthy cause, and have the political gumption to bring it to fruition. In 1989 she co-published (with Margaret Bowman) Reformers: Shaping Australian Society from the 60s to the 80s, profiling fourteen Australian reformers from Gough Whitlam to Katharine West. The profiles, the authors hoped, would 'add a human dimension to abstractions like "social change" and "reform"'. In 2000, Grattan edited Reconciliation: Essays in Australian Reconciliation.

Grattan joined The Australian Financial Review as a columnist and senior writer in 1996. In 1999, she was appointed chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, but returned to The Age once again as a political columnist in 2002. In January 2004, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her long and distinguished service to Australian journalism, and in March of that year became political editor and bureau chief for The Age. In 2006, Michelle Grattan received the Walkley Award for Journalism Leadership.

  • 1970 - Career in journalism active
  • 2006 Walkley Award (Senior Journalism Awards) - Journalistic Leadership, The Age, ABC Radio National

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Australian Women's Register

Resources for Michelle Grattan

Selected resources (11)

Australian Women's Register

  1. Reconciliation : Essays on Australian Reconciliation
    Grattan, Michelle
    [2000]
    Published: Bookman Press
  2. Australian Prime Ministers
    Grattan, Michelle
    [2000]
    Published: New Holland
  3. Can Ministers Cope?: Australian Federal Ministers at Work
    Grattan, Michelle
    [1981]
    Published: Hutchinson
  4. Managing Government: Labor's Achievements and Failures
    Grattan, Michelle
    [1993]
    Published: Longman Cheshire
  5. Editorial Independence: An outdated concept?
    Grattan, Michelle
    [1998]
    Published: Department of Journalism, University of Queensland
  6. Reformers : Shaping Australian Society from the 60s to the 80s
    Grattan, Michelle and Bowman, Margaret
    [1989]
    Published: Collins Dove
  7. Back on the Wool Track
    Grattan, Michelle
    [2004]
    Published: Vintage
  8. Headline, Deadline, Bottom Line : The case for good journalism1995 Walter Murdoch Memorial lecture : Headline, Deadline, Bottom Line : The case for good journalism
    Grattan, Michelle
    [1995]
  9. Reporting Federal Politics1998 Arthur Norman Smith memorial lecture in journalism : Reporting Federal Politics
    Grattan, Michelle
    [1988]
  10. The Women's Pages: Australian Women and Journalism since 1850
    Australian Women's Archives Project
    [2008]
    Published: Australian Women's Archives Project
    Series: http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/cal/cal-home.html
  11. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS): Papers of Michelle Grattan on Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (1963 - 1976)
    These papers which were used by Michelle Grattan when she was the Political Editor for The Age, in the Press Gallery, Parliament House, Canberra. They cover a wide range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, including health, land rights, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, education and housing. Included are correspondence, ministerial statements, journal articles, unpublished reports and papers such as the one by A. Kalokerinos on 'Scurvy and infant mortality'. There are Hansard pages, handwritten notes, annual reports of government departments, conference reports, newspaper clippings, press releases, submissions to committees and to government, draft articles, a Boyer lecture, and parliamentary questions and answers. Many of the papers are annotated photocopies. An electronic finding aid is available
    MS 4084

Resources by Michelle Grattan (3)

  1. Reformers : shaping Australian society from the 60s to the 80s / Margaret Bowman & Michelle Grattan
    Bowman, Margaret
    [ Book, Audio book : 1989-1991 ]
    At 70 libraries
    Reformers : shaping Australian society from the 60s to the 80s / Margaret Bowman & Michelle Grattan
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.275)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 16.275)

  2. Introduction / Michelle Grattan
    Grattan, Michelle, 1944-
    [ Book : 2000 ]
    At AIATSIS Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.872)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.872)

  3. Papers of Michelle Grattan on Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders
    Grattan, Michelle, 1944-
    [ Unpublished : 1963-1976 ]
    At AIATSIS Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.75)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.75)

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  1. Grattan, Michelle
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.131)

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  1. Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    Grattan, Michelle
    [ Book, Audio book : 2004-2005 ]
    At 112 libraries
    Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.281)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.281)

  2. Managing government : labor's achievements & failures / Fred Gruen, Michelle Grattan
    Gruen, F. H. (Fred Henry), 1921-
    [ Book, Audio book : 1993-1997 ]
    At 76 libraries
    Managing government : labor's achievements & failures / Fred Gruen, Michelle Grattan
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.884)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.884)

  3. 31 days to power : Hawke's victory / Robert Haupt with Michelle Grattan
    Haupt, Robert
    [ Book, Audio book : 1983-1986 ]
    At 55 libraries
    31 days to power : Hawke's victory / Robert Haupt with Michelle Grattan
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.837)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.837)

  4. Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    Grattan, Michelle
    [ Audio book, Sound : 2004 ]
    At 13 libraries
    Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.45)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.45)

  1. Australian prime ministers / edited by Michelle Grattan
    Grattan, Michelle
    [ Book : 2000-2010 ]
    At 186 libraries
    Australian prime ministers / edited by Michelle Grattan
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.584)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 4.584)

  2. Can ministers cope? : Australian federal ministers at work / [by] Patrick Weller and Michelle Grattan
    Weller, Patrick, 1944-
    [ Book : 1981 ]
    At 62 libraries
    Can ministers cope? : Australian federal ministers at work / [by] Patrick Weller and Michelle Grattan
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.436)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 3.436)

  3. Reconciliation : essays on Australian reconciliation / edited by Michelle Grattan
    GRATTAN, Michelle (ed)
    [ Book : 2000 ]
    At 145 libraries
    Reconciliation : essays on Australian reconciliation / edited by Michelle Grattan
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.992)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 2.992)

  4. Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    Grattan, Michelle
    [ Book, Audio book : 2004-2005 ]
    At 112 libraries
    Back on the wool track / Michelle Grattan
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.281)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.281)

  1. [Biographical cuttings on Michelle Grattan, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.474)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.474)

  2. Ballet Archives Photograph Collection
    [ Unpublished : 1920 ]
    View online (access conditions)
    Ballet Archives Photograph Collection
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.008)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.008)

  3. Papers of Manning Clark
    Clark, Manning, 1915-1991
    [ Unpublished : 1907-1992 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

  1. Website: Australian Women's Archives Project
    www.womenaustralia.info
    Matching pages:
    View 12 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.063)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.063)

  2. Website: Larvatus Prodeo
    larvatusprodeo.net
    Matching pages:
    View 649 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.022)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.022)

  3. Website: National Times
    www.nationaltimes.com.au
    Matching pages:
    • Michelle Grattan - 22/6/2011 and on 22/6/2011
    • ... Michelle Grattan Skip to navigation Skip to content 1:39PM Wednesday Jun 22, 2011 Fairfax Digital...
    View 6168 matching archived pages
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.02)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.02)

  1. Journalism award
    The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) Wednesday 7 December 1988 p 2 Article
    ... Journalism award MELBOURNE: Michelle of The Age newspaper, was named Australian lian Journalist of the Year yesterday.''; The annual award, now in its 13th year, was issued in memory of Graham Perjtin, editor of The Age from 1966 until- his death in 1975. ... 43 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.024)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.024)

  2. Black tie and no women's lib [coming soon]
    The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) Tuesday 20 September 1977 p 1 Article
    ... Black tie and no women's lib The Heavy Engineering Manufacturers Association annual dinner last night was, as always, a stag affair. The two women political correspondents in the parliamentary Press Gallery, Michelle Grattan of The Age, and Gay Davidson of The Canberra Times, were not present for ... 152 words
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.012)

  3. Family Notices
    The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Monday 2 August 1954 p 10 Family Notices
    ... Malvern, to Joan and Ron-a daughter (Michelle Christine). Both well. % DEATHS ANDERSON. Sydney.-On ... -May her dear soul rest In peace. BAZELEY, Annie Renison, of 9 Grattan street, Kew, who passed away ... dear mother Julie who passed away August 2 1944 -Fragrant memories (Inserted by Alfred and Doris ... 5220 words
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.011)

  1. The politic Michelle Grattan
    Hutton, Barbara
    Age
    [ Article : 1987 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.333)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.333)

  2. Michelle Grattan: more than equal in the political arena
    Cumming, Fia
    Women Australia
    [ Article : 1985 ]
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.239)

  3. Labor aims for a hat trick. -Michelle Grattan talks to 4 ALP politicians about Labor's policies in the approach to the next election-
    Grattan, Michelle
    Age
    [ Article : 1986 ]
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    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.219)

  4. Bean there [C.E.W. Bean.]
    Grattan, Michelle
    Australian Author
    [ Article : 2004 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.19)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.19)