Veteran journalist dies during swimming event
AWARD-winning Australian journalist Michael Gordon has died after suffering a heart attack while swimming at Victoria’s Phillip Island.
The acclaimed political writer and author retired last June after 44 years in journalism – a career mostly spent at Fairfax Media newspapers.
The Age’s political editor when he retired, Gordon was presented with the highly coveted Walkley Award last year for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Gordon, 62, was taking part in a swimming event on Saturday morning when found unconscious in the water at Cowes.
“Despite the best efforts of emergency services to revive him, he died at the scene,” she said
The Walkley Foundation’s citation for Gordon’s award last year read: “The overwhelming impression Gordon left – with both his byline and his presence – was of decency, integrity, fairness and balance.
“Even when he was working at the epicentre of influence, he held himself outside the media pack. And his compassion shone through as he fought to give voice to the underdogs.
“He was the first Australian journalist to gain access to the detention centre on Nauru; he spent time in remote communities listening to our first peoples, and won a Walkley for his coverage of indigenous affairs in 2003.”
He is survived by his wife Robyn, their two children and one grandson, Harry.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Gordon as a “writer with an elegant pen and a big heart”.