Journo of the old school, Paul Lynch was a straight shooter

Veteran journalist Paul Lynch was never a man to drink the proverbial Kool-Aid. No matter where he worked, he could smell spin at 100 metres.

Obituary: Paul Lynch, journalist

Born: Sydney, July 19, 1957

Died: Brisbane, May 27, 2021

Veteran journalist Paul Lynch was never a man to drink the proverbial Kool-Aid. No matter where he worked, or what company he was keeping, he could smell spin at 100 metres. And the old school reporter in him would always call it out for what it was, and damn the consequences.

Over decades of writing for mastheads including The Daily Telegraph (where he started his career as a copy boy before earning a cadetship), The Australian and The Courier-Mail, or later stints in public relations and politics, this quality earned an enduring respect that spanned the political and journalistic spectrum.

Facts mattered, whether he was covering a coup in Fiji or a Paul Keating budget for The Australian.

Paul Lynch.

The ever-reliable Lynch’s aversion to spin is typified in a 1981 incident, when working as a senior reporter in Melbourne he and a couple of mates were pilloried by then Melbourne broadcaster Derryn Hynch — a “blowhard” according to Lynch — just because they threw him fully clothed into a hotel swimming pool at a fancy opening night function. As you do.

Like all of that era, Lynch loved a laugh, a drink or 10 and a smoke, but those memories downplay the serious journalism he produced over the years: covering the Costigan Royal Commission, the Rainbow Warrior bombing, the Fitzgerald inquiry — and scoring (with snapper Geoff Henderson) a world exclusive on the debris of Skylab falling back to Earth over Australia.

He worked on the media team for Brisbane’s Expo 88, returned to journalism for some years, and then spent his remaining years in the craft working as an adviser to former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and press secretary to senior Cabinet ministers. Still, even on the ‘Dark Side’ he had the respect of press gallery reporters as a straight shooter who would rather silently roll his eyes and say nothing than try to spin utter rubbish.

Lynch retired a few years ago to concentrate on his health but lost a hard-fought battle with cancer last week. He was 63.

That, we trust, may see him reunited with Gina, his wife and love of his life who died just days short of their second wedding anniversary 31 years ago. Lynch is survived by his brothers Shaun and Phil, and sister Michelle.