All Media - Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique - Winner

Tony Walker, The Australian Financial Review, "Interesting Times"

Tony Walker’s 20-year professional association with the Middle East region shines through in these incisive pieces.

The Australian Financial Review’s international editor was on assignment in the region in the middle of the year, filing from Tehran, Damascus and Cairo. Walker deftly balanced news and analysis, supported by strong research and local knowledge.

He examined the power plays in a volatile region with urgency and clarity, and rare insight.
Tony Walker has spent 25 of his 36 years in journalism as a foreign correspondent in China, the Middle East and North America.

He started his career in journalism with the ABC in Melbourne in 1971, working for the ABC and The Age in the parliamentary press gallery in Canberra during the Whitlam and Fraser eras.

Walker is co-author of Arafat: The Biography, first published in 1990 (Virgin Books), and is a convener of the Bean Foundation, established in 2000 to honour the work of Australian war correspondents.

Walker’s commentary won him a Walkley in this same category in 2003, for "Before, During and After the War".

Judges’ comments

Tony Walker’s exploration of Iranian power in the wake of Iraq’s collapse was profound, bringing a fresh insight to the changing Middle East landscape. Based on personal research conducted during a trip to the region, Walker concluded that the risks of miscalculation had been dangerously heightened by tensions between the United States and Iran. The Iraq war had provided a troubling opportunity for Iran to fill the vacuum.