Guru of Australian politics launches new podcast with Paul Kelly: Columns
If you think you know what Paul Kelly is likely to write on a certain topic, you’re probably wrong. Our guru of national affairs always surprises readers. And for his latest, he is launching a podcast.
If you think you know what Paul Kelly is likely to write on a certain topic, you’re probably wrong.
The Australian’s editor-at-large, the guru of national affairs, has devoted his 50 years at the heart of political journalism to surprising the reader — and himself — with insights even he doesn’t see coming.
And for his latest surprise, Kelly is launching a podcast, bringing to your earbuds his distinctive baritone, reading aloud the ever-unpredictable columns in which he demonstrates his genius for reaching into the murk and scrabble of daily news and pulling out a clear line of historical significance.
“Ah, that’s right,” thinks the reader as Kelly, in his unmistakeable style, enumerates the reasons why this or that development is deeply significant, and how it fits into the bigger picture for Australia and the world.
Each Wednesday, exclusively for our valued subscribers, Kelly’s podcast will be released in The Australian’s app.
It’s called, of course, Paul Kelly: Columns.
“It’s good to have the reader have a sense of who you are and where you’re coming from – but you don’t want to be endlessly predictable,” Kelly, 73, says.
“It’s very important that you can surprise the reader and offer fresh insights, so the reader never completely knows where you’re likely to come from.”
Kelly, who has worked in print and broadcast since his early 20s as well as writing 10 books and creating acclaimed documentaries and TV specials, started out in the federal parliamentary press gallery in 1971, serving as chief political correspondent for The Australian, The National Times and The Sydney Morning Herald, before coming back to The Australian, serving as editor-in-chief from 1991 to 1996.
For the past 25 years Kelly has been editor-at-large with a roving brief over national and international affairs, with his snappy Wednesday column buttressed by a longer, deeply researched Saturday piece, usually on the front of Inquirer.
“I always have eight or 10 or 12 ideas written down at any one time that I’m likely to pursue,” Kelly says, adding he likes to start writing around 9.30am after fully absorbing the news.
“I try to do two things: examine what’s going on immediately on a daily and weekly basis – but try and see the bigger trend over five, 10, or 25 or 30 years.
“It’s easy to succumb to the tyranny of the present; we’re all obsessed about what happens today, what happened yesterday – but we live in a world where there’s excessive information but less understanding.”
Kelly reads widely – favourites include Bret Stephens from the New York Times, Andrew Sullivan of The Weekly Dish and Ed Luce from the Financial Times – and finds column-writing helps distil his own thoughts.
“Writing directs the mind,” he says. “Once you’ve got to write something down, it forces you to focus on it.”
There’s one school of modern columnist Kelly can’t abide – the provocateur.
“I don’t provoke for the sake of provoking. I think that’s shallow, insubstantial and trivial; taking a phony position just to create controversy,” he says.
Kelly’s columns are genuine; his best attempt at getting to the core of things.
“You’ve got to be humble enough to think you’re wrong – and you’ve always got to be testing even the most firmly held views, particularly at a time like this. The point about Covid is Covid is a constantly changing infection, so the worst mistake a journalist can make is thinking that the response today should be the same as a response a year ago. The response must change as the circumstances change.”
Paul Kelly: Columns every Wednesday in The Australian’s app, exclusively for our subscribers. Swipe to Podcasts and hit +Follow.
Download the app via: Apple App Store | Google Play Store
Subscribe to The Australian for just $1 a week for the first four weeks (terms and conditions apply).
