Radio: News Reporting Winner

Tim Palmer, ABC Radio, “Bali Suicide Bombings”

As the ABC’s Indonesia correspondent, Tim Palmer was the only Australian broadcast journalist to cover the triple suicide bombing at restaurants at Bali’s Jimbaran Beach and Kuta Square in October 2005.

Arriving in Bali in the early hours of the morning, Palmer attended the bomb sites and each of the hospitals receiving victims.
Palmer went on to produce a series of live crosses with detailed analysis of previous attacks in Indonesia. His reporting also provided the basis of the first detailed picture of the scene in Kuta and Jimbaran.

Palmer is a multiple Walkley Award winner and in 2005 was honoured with the Gold Walkley for his coverage of the tsunami
disaster in Aceh and reporting in Indonesia.

Prior to his Indonesian posting in 2002, he was based in the Middle East for three years, winning his first Walkley Award for his coverage of the peace process that collapsed into the second Palestinian Intifada.

He returned from his posting in Jakarta in April and is now the executive producer for The World Today.

Judges’ comments
Palmer’s work was distinguished by his vivid eyewitness descriptions, powerful on-the-spot interviews and seamless narrative. His unswerving attention to factual detail and precision gave Australians a clear and informative early account of a chaotic and terrifying event.