Report Card: The State of the Media

Margaret Simons is Associate Professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University. In 2015, she won the Walkley Award for Social Equity Journalism. Her recent books include Six Square Metres, Self-Made Man: The Kerry Stokes Story, What's Next in Journalism?, Journalism at the Crossroads and Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs, co-written with former Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser. The latter won both the Book of the Year and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2011. 

In addition to her academic work, Margaret regularly writes for the Saturday Paper, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Griffith Review, the Monthly and other publications.

Lenore Taylor is Guardian Australia's editor. She has won two Walkley awards and has twice won the Paul Lyneham award for excellence in press gallery journalism. She co-authored a book, Shitstorm, on the Rudd government's response to the global economic crisis.

Damon has been editor of the Herald Sun since July 2012.

Under Damon’s editorship, the Herald Sun was awarded the newspaper of the year prize at the 2013 News Awards, with the citation being: ‘the Newspaper of the Year Award was won by the Herald Sun, which in late 2012 set itself a goal of significantly improving its storytelling, community engagement and audience targets. With powerful news coverage, compelling sport content, deeply engaging community events and highly efficient marketing campaigns, the Herald Sun achieved its goals.’

Prior to being editor of the Herald Sun, Damon was editor of the Sunday Herald Sun, a position he had held since November 2008. Before this, he was deputy editor of the Herald Sun, having been chief of staff since he returned from New York in March 2003.

Damon was posted to New York in 2000 to work for News Ltd publications, covering the attacks of September 11 and other significant global stories.

Damon was chief political reporter for the Herald Sun and covered the fall of Jeff Kennett and the rise of Steve Bracks at the 1999 election.

Simon Crerar is BuzzFeed's Australia Editor and leads an editorial team dedicated to growing the social news and entertainment company's Australian audience with viral content by and for Australians. 

Prior to BuzzFeed, he worked at the Times and Sunday Times in London and at News Corp Australia. An innovative originator of compelling, shareable content, Simon's career has seen him interview Hollywood A-listers, live blog a Category 5 cyclone and report from maximum security prisons in Bangkok and Moscow.

Born and raised in Edinburgh, he is the proud owner of tweeting Jack Russell Terriers @LeoandClancy.

Dan Silkstone is the Weekend Editor for the Age. He has overall responsibility for the Saturday and Sunday newspapers as well as digital content on the weekends. He oversees a team of print editors, feature editor, weekend political editor and others to bring readers a compelling mix of beautifully presented stories each weekend.

Since joining the Age in 2000, he has been a court reporter, transport reporter, state rounds reporter and senior writer. He has spent several years as a sportswriter and editor, including stints covering the Olympics, World Cup soccer and other major events. He is also involved as an editor in some of the podcast projects currently being produced by the Age.