In Mike Amor’s new book, News Cowboys he recounts his experiences with honesty, compassion and humour, but also takes on the big questions.
Read on for an extract …
ABOUT THE BOOK
News cowboys – it was the nickname the reporters and camerapeople at Seven Network’s Los Angeles bureau jokingly gave themselves as they headed off on assignments, not knowing what to expect and often unprepared for what they found. It was a way of coping, of not taking too seriously what was often deadly serious, as they witnessed some of the worst moments in recent world history.
For 18 years Mike Amor was one of those journalists. He was on the ground during 9/11 and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He reported on mass shootings from Port Arthur to Sandy Hook, covered the earthquake in Haiti and the astonishing rescue of a little girl named Winnie, investigated Mexican drug cartels, came under fire in Gaza – and much more.
There were good times, too – following the Olympics or Chloë McCardel’s record-breaking Cuban swim – but the mental and physical toll was incalculable, on him and on his wife and son.
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LISTEN TO A PODCAST WITH MIKE AMOR
EXTRACT
It was a beautiful clear morning sky in Copenhagen in January 2006, vastly different from the blizzard that had blanketed the city the night before. This was a good thing because I needed to get back home: I was overdue to meet Tracy, her father and stepmother, sisters and niece in Palm Springs for a long-planned week off. A trip to Denmark to cover the baptism of Australian-born Crown Princess Mary’s son and heir to the throne, Christian, meant I was running late. It wasn’t the first time. As the network’s then only foreign correspondent, I had frequently covered the Danish royals.
Then the phone rang. It was Chris Willis. I liked Chris, but his calls seldom brought good news. There were, he explained, reports that Damir Dokić, the estranged father of star tennis player Jelena Dokić, had threatened to kill an Australian in revenge for his daughter’s decision to return to Australia to live. According to the Serbian newspaper Kurir, Dokić wanted to kidnap his daughter and had sought help from Serbian politicians to help with the plot. He even claimed he wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Sydney.
‘So he wants to kill an Australian and now we’re going to deliver one to his doorstep,’ I said to Chris, with a nervous laugh.
I had good reason to be concerned. Dokić had shown a propensity for violent outbursts. He had fought with a TV crew at the Australian Open, been thrown out of Wimbledon after stamping on a journalist’s phone and then banned from the US Open after a violent argument. He had moved his family back to Serbia from their adopted home in Australia in a fit of rage, claiming the Australian Open draw was rigged against his daughter. Jelena later revealed her father was far worse than any of us knew: he had been physically abusive during her childhood.
It wasn’t an enticing assignment. But Trent Miller and I had our orders …
We landed in Belgrade on a snowy afternoon. I’m sure the city is beautiful, but the severe cold only made it feel more unwelcoming. Trent and I jumped into a cab headed for our hotel. The driver asked in broken English why we were visiting.
Our camera equipment often invited intrigue and questions.
We explained that we were trying to interview Damir Dokić.
‘Damir?’ he said. ‘I have driven Damir. I know where he lives.’
Our luck had just changed. ‘Do you have a phone number for him?’ we asked.
The driver explained that he had a contact for one of the men who worked for Dokić and would happily call him.
After speaking in Serbian, the driver handed the phone to me.
‘Hello, what do you want with Damir?’ the voice on the other end asked in clear enough English.
I explained that we wanted to talk to him about his threats to his daughter and to Australia.
‘If you come here there will be trouble,’ he warned. I didn’t doubt him.
‘Look mate,’ I told him boldly, ‘I’m in trouble with my wife for not being at home. Any harm you can inflict on me is nothing compared to what she will do.’
It was an exaggeration, but it seemed to resonate with him.
Before hanging up, however, the man warned us again against coming to the house. We didn’t have a choice, so I asked the driver to take us there.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Amor is one of Australia’s most experienced broadcast journalists.
He is currently a presenter for Channel Seven Melbourne’s top rating news service, having returned to Australia after 18 years as the network’s United States Bureau Chief.
In a career spanning more than 35 years, Mike Amor has covered some of the biggest news stories in the world, from being on the ground in New York during the September 11 terrorist attacks to rescuing Australian tourists trapped in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
His work has been honoured with almost 40 international journalism awards.
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