Scribe congratulates Niki Savva, bestselling author of So Greek and The Road to Ruin, who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Melbourne Press Club's 2016 Quill Awards. The award recognises Savva's outstanding lifelong contribution to Australian journalism, as a reporter, a columnist, and an author.
In accepting the award, Savva said, in part, ‘When Mark Baker rang to tell me I had been chosen to receive this award, I blurted out something like “But I’m not dead yet.” What I meant to say was, “But I’m not done yet.” Sometimes when I close my eyes and forget how ancient I am, in my more delusional moments, I think it’s all still ahead of me — I guess wishing it was all still ahead of me, even now when it all seems so much harder. There are grounds for despondency in this post-truth, fake-news era, but, really, not that much has changed.
‘Lies, spin, propaganda, misrepresentation have been with us forever. So have ratbags and larrikins. We have always had politicians who lie, and we have always had reporters who make mistakes or make mischief.
‘No need to stop the presses. It is not news. It was in 1917, during the First World War, when American senator Hiram Johnson said, “The first casualty when war comes, is truth.” In 1975, Australian-born journalist Phillip Knightley appropriated that remark for his widely acclaimed book. What we all know is that it’s not just in war time that truth is sacrificed. Election campaigns have become killing grounds thanks to overblown promises or dishonest scare campaigns.
‘Through all of that, the first responsibility, the most basic duty of reporters, has remained the same. That is to tell people what is really happening, try and tell them why it is happening, and do it as accurately as possible.’