No US president has been more media focused than President Trump. And likewise, no US president has consistently dominated global news cycles like President Trump. While most Australians watch the US presidential election from afar, intrepid Aussie journalists have spent the year in the epicentre of American political drama: Washington. How does the 2020 election compare to others? How do the candidates campaign and how do you cover them during a pandemic? What aspects of campaign journalism have changed forever?
To discuss these issues, the USSC hosted a webinar event with three Australian correspondents in Washington: Cameron Stewart of The Australian, Jacob Greber of The Australian Financial Review, and Matthew Knott of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in a conversation with former ABC Washington Bureau Chief, Zoe Daniel.
Cameron Stewart is an Associate Editor and Washington Correspondent for The Australian. This is his eighth US presidential election since he started with the paper and he is working in Washington DC during this pandemic. His investigative reporting covers foreign affairs, defence and national security and he also writes features for the Weekend Australian Magazine and is a regular contributor for Sky News.
Jacob Greber is The Australian Financial Review's United States correspondent, based in the paper's Washington bureau, where he's been since mid-2018. He was previously the AFR's economics correspondent in Canberra (2012-2018) and has worked as a journalist for more than 24 years in Australia, Europe and the US, including stints at Bloomberg News and News Ltd.
Matthew Knott is North America correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He moved to the US in 2017 to study political journalism at Columbia University in New York. He has travelled to 19 states across America, including recent trips to the battleground states. He has also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. The former federal political reporter was previously based in Parliament House, Canberra. While there he won the Wallace Brown Award for best young reporter in the press gallery.
Zoe Daniel was the ABC’s US bureau chief in Washington from December 2015 until December 2019. She was the ABC's South East Asia correspondent from 2009 - 2013 and Africa correspondent from 2005 until 2007. Zoe co-hosted the international news program The World on News 24 and Australia Plus. Zoe is the author of Storyteller, which provides a personal insight into her life as a foreign correspondent, as well as juggling a family.