It might be a long way from a normal night for politicians and the media, but getting glammed up and putting on a ballgown or tux was the thing to do in the capital this week. That’s if you could score a ticket to the hottest event on the ACT social calendar, the Midwinter Ball, otherwise known as Canberra’s version of the Met Gala (ha!). While the night itself is pretty light-hearted, serious negotiations take place each year in the lead up to what is the press gallery’s night of nights. Firstly, which media or companies get a table. Then, who gets invited to sit at the table - pollies need an invite to come. And finally, if you can snag a seat, what do you wear? Even when outfit plans are perfect the very nature of the news business can make it a struggle just to get to the event on time. News breaking in the late afternoon does not help. Racing to make print deadlines while trying to successfully apply eyeliner is certainly a required skill set. The Canberra Times political bureau - Dana Daniel, Miriam Webber, Brittney Levinson, Ellie Campbell and Connor Pearce - managed the juggle effortlessly despite the deadline pressure on Wednesday.
Connor Pearce, Ellie Campbell, Brittney Levinson, Miriam Webber and Dana Daniel at the ball.
We also report on the event and that has other challenges. Mingling in the foyer with attendees was reporter Bageshri Savyasachi, who was interviewing politicians (and surprise celebrity attendee Rachel Griffiths) and racing to film footage for a video. Photographer Sitthixay Ditthavong was filing photos for the paper deadline and taking as many as he could for a photo gallery that went straight up on the website. We choose to report on this event because while so much of what we do is serious coverage of policy and decisions that will affect Canberrans, it’s nice to have a bit of fun and, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to see our federal politicians in their sensational (or diabolical) outfits - something the number of readers of that piece confirmed. Of course it’s not just about the glitz and glamour; the event also raises thousands of dollars for charity. It’s estimated to have raised more than $5 million over the years.
Managing editor John-Paul Moloney welcomed subscribers in our foyer.
This week also marked the return of our subscribers' newsroom tour. We used to run these very popular sessions in our old Fyshwick office and this was the first time people have had the chance to tour our city office. We had about a dozen people come through, see and hear how we gather news, set the agenda for the day and get all that information to you. They also got to hear from Australian of the Year Local Hero David Elliott. It was a good opportunity for subscribers to find out a bit more about how we work and what goes into running our newsroom. We hope to run more of these sessions in future.
Thanks for reading, Meredith Clisby The Canberra Times acting editor
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