News Makers Indian links in Oz media

The media industry is one of the most prolific businesses in the world, with the ability to impart information, shape opinions and even create or destroy destinies. We explore the Indian links of six mainstream media personalities who thrive in this vibrant atmosphere, and contribute to its ever-increasing power.

From AIR to ABC Edmond Roy

AND YOU thought it could never happen.

A current affairs show on TV anchored by an Indiaborn presenter?

Well, it’s true.

Meet Edmond Roy, who until recently anchored the half-hour show Asia Pacific Focus on the Australia Network, Australia’s international television channel.

An offshoot of the ABC, Australia Network is viewed in over 40 countries in Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Pacific. Some of its programs are televised in Australia on ABC and ABC2.

Roy’s half-hour show, acclaimed for its different slant to current affairs, featured quality analysis of world events and interviews with key figures in the region. It put together reports from correspondents in Beijing, New Delhi, Jakarta, Canberra and the Pacific.

Today though, Edmond works on radio, as Executive Producer of the high-profile ABC show World Today

This marks a return to the ABC for Roy, who was for many years a prominent reporter on a number of current affairs shows on radio (AM, PM and World Today well as on TV (Lateline, Foreign Correspondent also the South Asia correspondent of the ABC for three years.

Edmond’s career in the media began in the 1980s at All India Radio Trivandrum, doing political reportage. In 1988, he found himself in Delhi, this time working in the print media. He answered an advertisement put out in India by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for a local reporter. He did not give it a second thought, until his landlord mentioned to him one day that a “phirang” had rung for him. Edmond dashed out to make contact with the “phirang”, Steve Sailah, a well-known name in the ABC.

His Australian innings had commenced.

“For a while I reported on local events from India for ABC radio, such as the Quilon train disaster which Keralites will remember well. In 1990, I came out here for a trip to see how it all happened on ABC. By then, my reports had aired not only in Sydney on what was then 2BL, but also in Perth, Melbourne and Darwin”.

He moved to Australia with his family in 1991. The ABC took him on as a producer on the international desk. However, they wouldn’t put him on air …

Was that because of his accent, perhaps?

“Yes, it was certainly a drawback,” Edmond says, but laughs when he is gently reminded that he has great advantage with that Anglo name.

But he persevered, and finally, shone through with his

“By ‘93-‘94, I was filing stories on local current affairs. It wasn’t easy, mind you … while doing the Jeff Kennett election, for example, I had to put up with snide remarks such as what was a ‘foreigner’ doing on ‘our’ stories”.

He laughs heartily as he recalls another assignment – the National Party convention, where he was the only

You should be on SBS, he was told; but Edmond’s sights were set much higher – he wanted to be more

“And that’s where the ABC is so good. It’s still going to be a fair while before you see a face and hear a voice like mine on the commercial channels”.

Let’s hope Edmond is wrong there.

What are some of the more memorable stories Edmond

“Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, two of India’s General Elections, India’s nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1999, Mother Teresa’s funeral … but perhaps the most chilling was the time I spent in Afghanistan during the heyday of the Taliban. The fundamentalism was hard to take, and at the end of it all, we were snowed in and we had to walk, yes walk, out of the country”.

And which stories does he wish he could have done? “I wish I was there when the twin towers fell in NY; and when the Taliban was pushed out of Afghanistan. I’d love to have interviewed Prabhakaran of the Tamil Tigers … but the stories that draw me are the ones that are filled with political machinations”.

Bring them on, Edmond.

Rajni Anand Luthra

“I’VE ALWAYS almost magical, somehow,” says Sharon Verghis. “It was something I had a natural affinity and passion for as long as I can remember.”

Not many people can make their passion pay their mortgages, but Verghis has built a successful career as a print journalist - from being a senior writer for the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) Weekend, the SMH magazine.

She has worked only in the print media. “I only ever wanted to be a print journalist on a broadsheet newspaper. I had no interest in the tabloid papers, or radio and TV,” says Verghis. “Print journalism, to me, is such an honourable art form, with so much tradition behind it. I love the immediacy and adrenalin rush of daily news, as well as the more contemplative, leisurely pace of featurewriting.”

Readers will remember a moving column she wrote about the Cronulla riots for riots really hit a nerve with me because of my experiences going to school in the Sutherland Shire from Years 10 to 12,” recollects Verghis. “It was a big Catholic school, and filled with the most narrow-minded, insular, bigoted types you can imagine.”

The experiences at school and in the Shire marred her view of Australian culture. However, that changed after she went to university. “I learnt that there are masses of well-informed, educated and cosmopolitan Australians out there,” she says. “Luckily, the whole of the country is not like the Sutherland Shire. The area has changed now, thank God – more educated, ethnically diverse – but it was pretty vanilla and conservative when I was growing up.”

She recently published an article in Time magazine about the aggressive, nationalistic and often racist way in which the Australian flag is being used today. She is also writing another piece for the prestigious magazine about the recent attacks on Indian students. “I have to say while I do think there’s some racism involved, it’s more a law and order issue,” she says. “Many of the attackers weren’t white Australians. I see it as crimes of opportunity, stemming from an unfortunate perception among these thugs that Indians are soft targets.”

Besides her continual interest in these socio-political issues, Verghis also enjoys doing profiles of well-known personalities.

And for news from the financial markets … Akhilesh Kamkolkar

FOR 33-YEAR-OLD Akhilesh Kamkolkar, media has been a happy coincidence.

Today a regular commentator on business issues, this finance professional has been pleasantly surprised with his recent rise in the media.

It all started when his work as Head of Futures at Halifax Investment Services began to attract attention.

“I trade a commodities fund, and last year, returned phenomenal growth - it got me noticed in the industry. A friend who is part of a media group asked if I would be interested in doing an analysis of the commodities and financial markets on a business show, and I agreed”.

Today Akhi as he is known, is a regular on CNBC Squawk Australia, London and Europe, and a daily Reuters, Bloomberg & Dow Jones Newswire commentator. He also does a regular SKY Business News Australia commodity wrap-up, and is a Trading Matters contributor. He also writes for the Australian Financial Review endlessly fascinating,” she says.

One of her most memorable interviews was with the American rock musician, Lou Reed. “It was pretty terrifying – he has a reputation for eating journos for breakfast.”

Another challenging, yet exciting interview was with the actor Tim Robbins, who, as Verghis says, “has a fearsome intellect.” However that is no deterrent for her.

“The more difficult the subject, the better – it gets my adrenalin flowing!”

Other prominent personalities she has interviewed include author Oliver Sacks, and actors Bette Midler and Will Smith. However, her favourite assignment so far has been writing the real stories of common people.

“One of my earliest and most memorable assignments was a week-long trip to Taree, north of Sydney, as part of a three-member team to investigate and report on the causes of racism between white Australians and the Aboriginal community there. It was eye-opening stuff, and a fantastic learning experience,” says Verghis.

Akhi’s media experience, as well as his in-depth product knowledge of options/futures and strategies used in utilizing optimal investment in the commodities market, has also seen him become a regular on the speaker circuit.

With his superior communication skills and gregarious nature, Akhilesh seems perfectly suited to a career in the media, but he claims he was never really interested.

“Oddly enough, however, the thought did cross my mind about two years ago when I launched my own company. I tried to market it but budgets were tight. I thought if I got a regular spot somewhere where I could talk or write about commodities trading, it would work

“From tiny country towns to the bigger cities, it was great and documenting the plight of foreign-trained doctors in quite easily now, she had as tough a start to her career as free for any magazine or newspaper she could, including gradually built a portfolio of work, and sat for a test for a months. She did a variety of jobs - a medical receptionist, tutoring English, data entry. However, she never let that break her resolve to be a writer. As she now jokes, even the one-year cadetship, only four of us nine trainees were Verghis has done a double major in English Literature as part of an Arts Degree at the University of Sydney, and followed it up with a Diploma in Journalism at Macleay College in Sydney. “Doing the journalism diploma helped

And her advice for young writers: “Don’t give up, write

Malayalees. They moved to Sydney in 1988 when she was 14. Although she has never lived in India, she admits she feels a strong bond with the country and all things Indian. “The country and culture fascinate me. I’ve always regretted not being able to speak Malayalam or Hindi – the dialect is so beautifully melodic.”

She recollects visiting her maternal grandparents in Madras every summer as a child. “I have fantastic memories of the time – eating ice creams on Marina Beach, chasing chickens and turkeys around the backyard, eating mangoes ripe from the tree... those trips were a wonderful part of my childhood.”

She visited India as an adult with her husband a few years ago. “We went to Mumbai, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I want to take our two-year-old twins to see the Mother Country as soon as I can. Maybe they and I can learn Hindi or Malayalam together!” she quips.

Shivangi Ambani-Gandhi

well for the business. I didn’t want to be a celebrity or anything – I just wanted marketing exposure”.

(Akhi’s company Orb Investment Management delivers investment education to the retail trading community, with a focus on commodities, financial markets and exchangetraded funds).

But now everything has fallen into place, and Akhilesh admits to feeling “very lucky”.

There are no pre-interviews before he does his regular segments on TV.

“No, I don’t really ‘prepare’ before I go on,” he reveals. “Look, I’ve got about 400 clients to whom I provide full service advice, so I’m always up-to-date”.

Not surprisingly, it is talk of commodities that comes up first, when Akhilesh is asked about his links with India.

“Of course I watch the Indian markets closely, particularly sugar and wheat. And gold – it is fascinating to see how demand goes up during the festive season”.

On a personal level though, this former Trinity Grammar boy claims to be “well-balanced” in his IndianAustralian identity.

“I say the Gayatri mantra every morning; but equally, I have a good understanding of how the western world

Rajni Anand Luthra