Gold Walkley Award Winners

Lin Buckfield, Peter Cronau, Liz Jackson, Four Corners, ABC TV, “Stoking the Fires”

“Stoking the Fires” was filmed during the violence in East Timor in June 2006, and explored the political rivalries at play while the country teetered on the edge of becoming a bloodied failed state.

The Four Corners team gained access to the main rivals for power and the program revealed evidence that the then interior minister, Rogerio Lobato, was arming a secret civilian team – a fact known by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. In the wake of the program’s revelations, the prime minister was forced to resign and the former interior minister is facing criminal charges. The exclusive story was picked up by all major news outlets in Australia and around the world.

Lin Buckfield joined the Nine Network in 1990 as a researcher before moving on to Seven as a reporter and producer. She started at Four Corners in 2000 and has since won three Walkley Awards as a producer with the program.

Peter Cronau has been a researcher and producer at Four Corners since 1998. Before that, he worked in community radio and on the ABC’s Media Watch and ABC Radio’s Background Briefing. This is his second Walkley.

Liz Jackson has been with the ABC since 1987. After spending seven years in radio, at Radio National and 2JJJ, she joined Four Corners as a reporter. In 2005 she also presented ABC’s Media Watch. She has won five Walkley Awards.

Judges’ comments
This story had a massive impact and brought down a prime minister. It was an outstanding piece of investigative journalism, produced under trying circumstances, in which Jackson doggedly uncovers a running battle for power. Displaying exemplary field craft, the program looked beyond the events of the day to investigate new leads. Amid a flood of very good reporting of the East Timor crisis, Four Corners stood out from the pack, unfolding the narrative largely through the words and actions of the participants.