ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Being one of KBBL Betoota Imparja’s breakfast television presenters is a rare privilege bestowed upon a chosen few – one of those being Brett Gallway.
Each morning, the 49-year-old rises early and runs for an hour around Barcoo Park in the South Betoota, exclusive, leafy enclave of Danish Town while he listens to podcasts.
Arriving home in time to enjoy a slice of toast and a mild argument with his half-asleep wife, he’s out the door and on the road heading into town before he knows it.
It’s at these moments he has alone driving to work that he looks back fondly – and vaguely, on a time when he considered himself to be a real journalist, not just a mouthpiece for the one percent and their shareholders.
“Back in 1996, when I was 21 I think, I was fresh out of an ABC cadetship and was keen to cut my teeth somewhere interesting,” he said, looking out of his seventh-story office window down at Imparja’s Old City headquarters.
“So I went to Sri Lanka with a camera, tape recorder and a whole heap of good luck. For a time, I was the ABC’s man on the ground there. As a young journalist, there’s nothing more exciting. Being far, far away and knowing what you’re doing is important not only to you and your audience – but for the people around you,”
“Now I just laugh at memes on camera and deliver a fired-up piece to camera about something vaguely controversial whenever the EP thinks we’re losing ratings to the rival stations. It pays the bills, puts the kids through school and keeps the wife happy, so I guess I should be happy.”
The Advocate reached out to KBBL’s news director for comment, but was sent back a press release for Peter FitzSimons’ new book.
More to come.
