Let's try the beginning.
asserted
's → let → beginning
A kid, straight out of school with no real future mapped out, no obvious talents, just a general inclination that he might be suited to journalism.
uncertain
he → map → journalism
"The reason I wanted to be a journalist is because English was the only subject in high school I was any good at," he said.
asserted
he → want → school
"I basically failed everything else, didn't get into university, so I had to get a job.
asserted
I → fail → job
It doesn't sound like an auspicious start.
asserted
It → sound → start
Alan Kohler will walk out the door of the ABC's Melbourne studios tonight after presenting his final finance report, ending a 31-year career at the public broadcaster, 24 of them as the business big kahuna.
asserted
Kohler → walk → kahuna
"I love the ABC and I do really like going to the studio, but I think it's time to not have to do that," he confessed on the ABC's Business Daily podcast.
"
asserted
he → love → podcast
Life as a hippie
Kohler's media career was well established long before he joined the ABC in 1995.
asserted
he → establish → 1995
After a brief period as a copy boy for The Australian in 1969, making coffee and organising dry cleaning, he was hired as a cadet.
asserted
he → make → cadet
"A job came up at the Oz and it happened to be in the finance section," he explained to Jonathan Green a decade ago.
"
asserted
he → come → Green
He was just as directionless after completing the cadetship.
asserted
He → complete → cadetship
Hitching to Darwin, he scored a job on the NT News, was caught up in Cyclone Tracy's devastating rampage across the city and helped put together emergency issues of the paper on a "borrowed" printing press on A4 stapled paper.
asserted
he → hitch → paper
It took another four years, after wandering around the country, before he became serious about life and work, transforming from "being a pothead, to discovering ambition".
asserted
he → take → ambition
He scored a job at The Age, met his future wife, journalist and author Deborah Forster, and set off for Europe where he worked on regional English papers before returning to Melbourne and The Age.
asserted
he → score → Melbourne
By 1979, he'd switched to the Australian Financial Review under the tutelage of Robert Gottliebsen, rapidly ascending to penning its premier column, Chanticleer.
Business reporting had found him, rather than the other way round.
asserted
reporting → switch → way
As he explains, it's partly because very few want to do it, and so the pay is better.
asserted
pay → explain → it
Plus, he realised he had a talent for explaining things.
asserted
he → realise → things
"People's brains just go to toothpaste when it comes to finance," he told the Daily Business podcast's Carrington Clarke.
asserted
he → go → Clarke
But the old inertia played a part too.
asserted
inertia → play → part
"Once you get in a particular role, it's hard to get out of it," he told Green.
asserted
he → get → Green
But the coasting days were long gone.
asserted
days → go → ?
He taught himself economics, reading until late into the night, put his mind to the intricacies of finance and delved into the daily machinations of the corporate world.
asserted
He → teach → world
By the time he was 32, he was editor of the AFR, during the heady days of the Hawke and Keating government as deregulation swept the world and Australia opened its doors to the global economy.
asserted
Australia → sweep → economy
A chance encounter
Our paths first crossed in 1986.
asserted
paths → cross → 1986
It was the decade of greed, takeover fever was in full swing and a then-corporate raider, the since-disgraced Ron Brierley, had launched a massive bid for miner North Broken Hill.
asserted
raider → disgrace → Hill
It coincided with a journalist strike at metropolitan newspapers.
asserted
It → coincide → newspapers
As AFR editor, and with no staff on hand, Kohler went back on the tools to write the analysis piece and opted for wire copy from Australian Associated Press for the news story.
asserted
Kohler → go → story
I was that AAP author and thrilled to be given a byline on the paper's page one lead story.
asserted
I → thrill → story
Rather than the complex, almost unintelligible explainers routinely trotted out by the AFR's senior reporters, Kohler's analysis was simple, illuminating and elegant.
asserted
analysis → trot → reporters
It was a masterclass in communication and forever seared into your correspondent's memory.
Two decades later and he joined the Sydney Morning Herald during my tenure as business editor.
asserted
he → sear → editor
In 2012, I joined his operation, The Eureka Report, for a year.
asserted
I → join → year
And for the past 13 years we've worked alongside one another at the national broadcaster.
asserted
we → work → broadcaster
He may be stepping down from the ABC, but Alan Kohler is not retiring.
uncertain
Kohler → step → ABC
Journalism is moving away from organised newsrooms, he argues, and more towards individuals delivering their own content.
asserted
he → move → content
In his case, he will be moving away from the ABC at Southbank and more towards working from home.
asserted
he → move → home
While free-to-air networks and newspapers still have a role to play, streaming, mobile devices, video and audio on demand and the loss of advertising revenue for the major players have transformed the media industry in the past 20 years.
asserted
streaming → have → years
These pressures show no signs of abating and traditional media is likely to continue to feel the squeeze, both in broadcast and in text.
asserted
media → show → text
"I'm actually starting to feel optimistic about what we do now because with AI, the work that humans do will be more valuable," Kohler said.
asserted
Kohler → start → that
"How that plays out, I'm not quite sure.
asserted
I → play → ?
I mean, I think a lot of grunt work of journalism will be done by AI, but I do think that consumers of media will value human work."
asserted
consumers → mean → work
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia