The never-say-die newsman

FOR the average Indian journalist whose daily movements were restricted to between the bar and the buffet table, the life and career of Australian journalist, Paul Raffaele, will sound bizarre. Both with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and later with the Reader’s Digest, Paul had had an exciting, eventful career covering the world’s trouble spots and himself getting into trouble. Paul, who was in Mumbai in search of ideas for his articles spent three hours in the company of V. Gangadhar discussing highlights of his career. The result is a fascinating account of a never-say-die journalist always on the move!

Did you ever attend a journalism school?

Never and I don’t think that is necessary. The men and women with diplomas think they know everything about the profession. You won’t believe it, I was digging sewer trenches in Sydney when I applied for a job with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and I was the only one to be selected out of nearly 800 applicants.

How did it happen?

Journalism is all about people. The blokes who chose me must have been impressed with the fact that I was familiar with wide sections of the Australian public. I could talk to anyone, highbrow or lowbrow and get them to talk to me.

What was your job at the ABC life?

I was with the ‘Current Affairs’ section of Radio Australia which was part of the ABC. It was reporting current news. In 1973, I became the first Australian journalist to visit China. There were hardly any western journalists covering China in those days. I guess I got through because I posed as a member of a quasi-Communist group. In my two-year stint in China, I did a lot of controversial, political stories. Those were the last days of the cultural revolution, the Gang of Four was fighting Deng and his reforms.

Did you have enough freedom to work in China?

There were all kinds of harassment. The Chinese thought that Radio Australia was a government agency. They were unhappy at my reporting and called for my return. You see, Radio Australia was popular throughout Asia and the Chinese did not want stories critical about them aired.

What happened after that?

Well, I quit China after two years and managed to sneak into North Korea, which was totally forbidden to Western correspondents. In 1974, when the Vietnam war ended, I covered the closing scenes from Hanoi. There was no satellite communication in those days. I had to tap my stories and had them flown out to Sydney, quite a difficult task from unfriendly countries.

Was it then you blundered to Cambodia?

‘Blundered’ is the right word. I don’t know what came over me when I decided to cross over to Cambodia from Thailand. Cambodia was then the Killing Field. The Khmer Rouge was slaughtering millions of their own people. As an intruding foreigner, I was all set to be executed. But I spoke about my Chinese connections and also familiarity with some of the Cambodian top brass who had taken part in political negotiations with China. Oh, it was a close shave. The Khmer Rouge let me off with a warning that they did not like foreigners and would kill me if I entered their counrty again. But the trip provided me with a world scoop, the media called me kamakaze journalist.

How long did you continue with the ABC?

It was a happy association. I was their bureau chief in Peking, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Then I was promoted as the head of their current affairs section and posted at Sydney. But it was a desk job which did not suit me. So I quit. For sometime, I freelanced and wrote for leading publications like Sunday Times, New York Times and so on. I spent three years in Tokyo doing different kinds of stories.

How did the association with Reader’s Digest come through?

While I was in Tokyo, the Digest picked up and published one of my articles on North Korea. They wanted me to write more stories for them. I was then married and had a daughter. Since I wanted my daughter to be brought up as an Australian citizen, I decided to return to Sydney and work for the Digest.

I guess you never regretted that decision. But weren’t you offered jobs with newspapers and news magazines?

This change in my professional life came at a time when Australian newspapers and news magazines were cutting costs, particularly with editorial expenses. My kind of stories always cost a lot of money, travel to remote places, hotel expenses and so on. The Digest was prepared to foot the bills and give me total freedom. You see, as a radio journalist, I had to create vivid pictures for the readers with the words. This was the kind of writing the Digest needed. At the same time, I never did the typical Drama in Real Life stories for the Digest because these were about what happened to another people. My stories were about adventures, exotic happenings where I had a major role to play. Covering Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia, I came across several leads which I converted as my stories.

There was the one about the cannibals in New Guinea.

Yes, I spent several weeks with the Korowai tribe of Irini Jaya in the Western regions of the New Guinea rain forests.

They lived in tree houses and ate human flesh, among other things. Men and women who were guilty of stealing pigs and other animals, were killed and eaten. Their women had beauty marks which were made by thrusting red hot coals on their bare skin. The natives organised feasts where the special delicacy was beetle larvae, baked in banana leaves!

You see, I went to Irini Jaya, expecting to find something really horrible. But these tribes were just like us, they are nearly kinds of 10,000 years old and their habitat was endangered with the cutting down of rain forests. They would be totally out of place in modern society. The men would be reduced to drug running and pimping, the women functioning as prostitutes. The world should protect them, and not disturb their habitat.

I guess you learnt something special from every story you did for the Digest?

You can say that. For a story on the Great White Shark I got myself into a cage which was lowered into the Pacific. I was able to study the sharks for long periods. You see, they seldom attacked humans as portrayed in the film Jaws. Nearly 70 per cent of those attacked by sharks along the Australian coasts, escaped with minor injuries. This could not have happened if the sharks had been man-eaters. As portrayed in films and books. They are curious about human beings, but not killers.

One of your major stories was another world scoop on Bishop Carlo Beto of East Timor who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

Yes, he was a remarkable man. The Bishop came to represent the conscience of the East Timorese. The Indonesia dictatorship would not permit him to meet any foreigners I went to East Timor, disguised myself as a sarong and tribal art dealer and won the confidence of the local police. Using this disguise I was able to meet the Bishop and interview him and then smuggle the tapes out of the country. The Indonesian dictators were upset when the story appeared and they banned that particular issue of the Digest. The Bishop while receiving the Nobel Prize mentioned me and the Digest. It was a great moment for me.

What are your future story plans like?

I am always on the lookout for interesting story ideas from newspapers, magazines and TV shows. Once I am convinced I have a story idea. I check it out with my editors at the Digest. Next year, I am planning a story in Venezuela on being embraced by an anaconda snake. Research is going on the ‘bonobi’ chimpanzees which are found in Congo. These chimps walk on two legs and are more intelligent than the normal chimps. I could be interested in a story in Mumbai’s Ganesh festival. Also Gilgit, the Gurkhas, the King of Bhutan, and the elusive blue mountains in Afghanistan. Oh, there are so many ideas.

What is your working schedule like?

I am chasing stories and doing research almost six months a year. The rest of the time is spent in writing and chasing story ideas. Normally, I do eight to 10 stories as year for the Digest. I enjoy my work.

You had also done a story on corruption in Australian politics. How do you react to the charges that Australian society is racist and did not want any coloured immigrants?

Rubbish. Every country desires only particular types of immigrants. The Malaysians prefer Indo Malays, Singapore wants Chinese immigrants and the Thais deprive their own hill tribes of any freedom and usurp their lands. The caste system in India is appalling. One of our leaders, Pauline Henson, had been unjustly labelled as racist. All that she had demanded was to restrict immigration so that the basic structure of the Australian society was not changed. Let me tell you. Australians do not think low of Asians. But Australia cannot link its future permanently to Asia. We are a separate continent and we will have our own future.

One last question. It had been a remarkable year for Australia in sports. The cricket World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and now the Davis Cup. Do you follow cricket?

Certainly, we are all looking forward to watching Sachin Tendulkar in action. But there are certain aspects of Australian cricket which many of us find disturbing. For instance, the admissions of Shan Warne and Mark Waugh about accepting money from Indian bookies. From their statements, it was clear they had done it not just once as they claimed, but more times. It was a shame that Warne was made the vice captain of the team. Golf and cricket remained the two gentlemen’s games today, even cricket is getting corrupted. There is too much money floating around.