The Sydney Morning Herald
· collected 2026-10-06 · by Paddy Manning, Helen Pitt
Lauded as one of the finest Australian journalists of his generation, former Four Corners executive producer and ABC news and current affairs chief Peter Manning died last month, aged 81, after a career spanning 60 years.
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Manning → laud → years
Tributes have poured in to his family and online, with Manning being described by the Herald’s chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont as “a colossus of Australian investigative journalism”, and by others as a “fierce and loyal protector of journalists”, and “the best boss I ever had” for his “attention, care and infectious enthusiasm”.
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I → pour → attention
Manning was born in wartime Sydney in 1945, to small businessman Michael Manning and secretary Rosemary Weston, who worked at a toy factory in the western suburbs.
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who → bear → suburbs
They divorced when Peter was very young, and he grew up between Bondi, where he attended Waverley College, and Toongabbie.
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he → divorce → College
An only child, he revelled in the company of his cousins – especially Jenny, Anne, Karen and Wendy.
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he → revel → cousins
Brought up Catholic in a Menzies-loving household, Manning showed an early sign of his instinct for writing when, as an 11-year-old, he had a letter published in the Daily Telegraph, denouncing Russia’s invasion of Hungary in 1956.
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letter → bring → 1956
After graduating from high school he did a stint as a copyboy there – his first job in journalism.
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he → graduate → journalism
Embarking on an arts degree at Sydney University in 1962, the fervent anti-communist immediately tried to resurrect the Democratic Labor Party club on campus, then dormant, and started writing for the weekly student newspaper, Honi Soit.
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communist → embark → newspaper
At first, he was in favour of the Vietnam War, but his politics were shifting, inspired by the liberation theology of the university’s Catholic chaplain, Ted Kennedy.
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politics → shift → chaplain
Manning had at one point considered joining the priesthood, but as he told Nadia Wheatley and Meredith Burgmann in an interview for their book Radicals – Remembering the Sixties (2021), “the thing that was revolutionary for me was Ted saying, ‘Live your values of love and social justice in the world, don’t hide in a church.’ ”
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Ted → consider → church
Many start out radical in their youth and grow conservative as they age.
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they → start → youth
Manning went the other way.
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Manning → go → ?
A radicalising influence was the horror of Vietnam.
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influence → radicalise → Vietnam
“My brain was seeing the ridiculous nature of the argument that you have to bomb the hell out of Vietnam, in order to save it, for freedom,” Manning told Wheatley and Burgmann.
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Manning → see → Wheatley
In 1965, his number came up in the birthday ballot, but although by now he considered himself a conscientious objector, he was lucky to be rejected for bad feet.
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he → come → feet
Manning fell in love with fellow student Maria Beswick.
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Manning → fall → Beswick
They married in 1966 and soon had two children, Paddy and Megan.
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They → marry → children
They were together for a decade, and stayed warm friends.
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They → stay → decade
After graduating with a BA majoring in government, Manning started teaching at Ashfield’s De La Salle Catholic boys’ school for a year, but then found work as a trainee reporter at The Bulletin, under editor Donald Horne, who took him under his wing but decided he needed to do a formal cadetship.
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he → graduate → cadetship
In 1967, he was hired by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald, where one of his first tasks was writing the “Dog of the Week” column.
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one → hire → column
He got his grading, and returned to the Bulletin in 1969.
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He → get → 1969
In 1971 Manning was recruited by the ABC for its revolutionary new daily current affairs program This Day Tonight, joining a crop of pioneering muckrakers who went on to become some of journalism’s biggest names, including Bill Peach, Caroline Jones, Mike Willesee, Andrew Olle, Kerry O’Brien and Mike Carlton.
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who → recruit → Peach
Through the mid-1970s he went back to print, serving as senior writer at The Bulletin, co-founder and editor of a short-lived campaigning community newspaper The Leichhardt Local, part-time editor of New Journalist, and managing editor of Nation Review.
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he → go → Review
In 1975, he published his first book, Green Bans: The Story of an Australian Phenomenon.
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he → publish → Phenomenon
Manning returned to the ABC in 1979, first as a news reporter at radio station 2JJ and then as a senior producer with TDT’s replacement program, Nationwide.
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Manning → return → program
At the ABC, in 1981, he met and fell in love with reporter Jenny Brockie, and they would soon marry and have a daughter, Thea.
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they → meet → daughter
In 1982, Manning joined Four Corners as a producer to rejuvenate the program, which was then facing the axe.
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which → join → axe
Then-executive producer Jonathan Holmes paired him with a newly hired reporter, Chris Masters, and he recalled last week that “the program they came up with months later, The Big League, put Four Corners on the map for the rest of the 1980s”.
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they → pair → 1980s
The Big League led to the Street royal commission into allegations that Premier Neville Wran had conspired to pervert the course of justice.
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Wran → lead → justice
Under his leadership, Four Corners enjoyed a golden age from 1985 to 1989.
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Corners → enjoy → 1989
While he was executive producer, he commissioned high-impact investigations that won a slew of awards.
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that → commission → awards
These include the Gold Walkley in 1985, when Chris Masters and Bruce Belsham won for French Connections, which identified the French intelligence agents behind the sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior.
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which → include → ship
With Manning at the helm, Four Corners won the Logie for most outstanding achievement in public affairs in both 1988 and 1989, and Paul Barry’s program Blue Death, which exposed the dangers of blue asbestos mining in Wittenoom, won the Human Rights Award for television documentary in 1988.
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which → win → 1988
Jonathan Holmes, as head of ABC TV documentaries for some of those years, wrote for ABC Alumni that he watched Four Corners each week with amazement.
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he → write → amazement
I still remember The Dead Heart, a story Chris Masters told about two young jackeroos who died in the Western Australian outback, and the thoughtless negligence of the bosses who allowed it to happen,” he wrote.
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he → remember → bosses
“Peter led a team that loved him.
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that → lead → him
He could be stern, but he laughed a lot more often.
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he → laugh → ?
As head of ABC news and current affairs from 1989 until 1993, Manning created new programs, such as Lateline (which ran for 28 years), Foreign Correspondent (now 34 years strong) and Landline (now 35 years old).
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which → create → years
As head of Radio National, he launched news program Radio National Breakfast, which is still going strong 30 years later.
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which → launch → Breakfast
He launched the ABC’s multimedia unit in 1995, overseeing its first online output.
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He → launch → output
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
