The way he made the bad guys squirm

Cherelle Murphy said...

When watching “All the President’s Men” a couple of years ago I was struck by how much Morgan reminded me of a young Robert Redford, who played journalist pin-up boy, Bob Woodward. That was just after Morgan left the Canberra bureau of the AFR and returned to Sydney. It was just before he won his Walkley award for the story that exposed the nasty financial affairs of Robert Gerard. Perhaps my association was a sign of the high regard I held Morgan as a journalist, perhaps it was the way he was the kind of guy that made you suck your stomach in!

I missed Morgan when he want back to Sydney even though his departure left open the economics correspondents’ role that I coveted. In the bureau he made us laugh when he didn’t even mean to. Once he, “the economics correspondent” asked me what net exports were. I’m not sure even now whether he was pulling my leg! Another time he made me choke on my coffee when he stood up at his desk and asked if anyone had a map of Tasmania? The mischievous grin on his face when he realised what he said was memorable.

I will miss Morgan's hilarious slips of the tongue, his mischievous grins and the way he made the bad guys squirm. But from my own experience of Morgan and from reading the fascinating insights on this website, I realise Morgan brought more smiles to the good and more headaches to the bad than anyone I know.

Dawn, Caroline, Lucy and Peter, I am sorry for your loss.

Cherelle Murphy