At a glittering ceremony at the London Hilton on Park Lane, Hamish was presented with the Young Journalist of the Year Award by the Royal Television Society.  Hamish was one of three nominees for the Award.  When contacted shortly after receiving his Award he was very excited and humbled by the win. That was in 2008, now Hamish has been shortlisted for an International Emmy Award for his anchor role in the Al Jazeera english coverage of the Russian invasion of Georgia.

 

 

 

Hamish MacDonald “couldn’t really say no” when he was offered the opportunity to join a project which was still in the embryonic stages.

 

Aljazeera English started in November 2006 and Hamish found the prospect of launching a 24 hour international news channel with the aim of challenging the market dominance of both CNN and the BBC was enormously ambitious – but also extremely exciting.

 

It’s all a long way from Hamish’s first job working as a reporter for Win Television in Canberra. “I began working on police and crime stories, but eventually moved into covering politics.

 

“It definitely influenced my career path. It taught me an enormous amount about the process of news gathering and it also focused my attention on news writing. Working as a news reporter in Canberra also gave me a taste of the adrenalin associated with working on a big news story. It developed my sense of commitment to telling the story ‘properly’,” he said.

 

“And while I am still working in television news, I am certainly doing things which I never would have anticipated while I was at university.”  After leaving Canberra, Hamish worked as a producer at Channel 4 News in London. It was there that the call came from Aljazeera English. Hamish now works as a reporter and news anchor in Aljazeera’s Asia bureau.

 

He has covered stories in PNG and was in Thailand during the coup.  He says he was the first news reporter into South Korea during North Korea’s nuclear tests.  He was broadcasting directly from Seoul throughout the event.

 

Because of the many preconceptions of Aljazeera News, Hamish says he is “acutely conscious of the use of language and I often modulate the language to ensure that I reflect balance”.

 

It is fair to say that Hamish MacDonald has a passion for journalism. He believes there are lots of stories which are not told, or at least not told properly by the existing Western based news programs and channels. He says, “The Aljazeera philosophy is all about telling the story from every perspective and that is something I firmly believe in.”

 

When asked what he’d like to be doing in five or ten years time, Hamish replied, “Contributing to national and international dialogue – allowing people to make up their own minds about what’s happening in the world.”

 

Hamish is a confident young man with strong beliefs.  He credits his Mum and Dad as the biggest influences. “They were always sticking us in front of programs like 4 Corners and Foreign Correspondent as children, which I guess must have had an impact – my brother and two sisters (both of whom also went to CSU) are all broadcast journalists.

 

“I think also growing up in a place like Jindabyne - which, although relatively remote, was always full of foreign visitors travelling through for the ski season - gave us an insight into the existence of a wider world beyond the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales.”

 

Things have come full circle and Hamish says that now it’s his turn to influence his parents.  “My mum now watches me on Aljazeera every weekend and she says it has increased her knowledge and perspective on the world.”

 

As a diversion and to keep fit, Hamish runs about 8 kms to and from work in Kuala Lumpur - even in the tropical heat.  He also ran the London marathon in 2005 - his first ever - finishing in just over 3 hours.  He said it was an amazing experience. “Hundreds of thousands of people come to watch.  It feels almost as if you are in the Olympics.”

 

When asked what advice he would give to young graduates just starting out, Hamish replied, “My only advice, for what it is worth is, be persistent. Try and try and try again. Knock-backs are part of journalism. There are so many young journalists floating around looking for work that you really need to stand out.”