Press Gang

IN Press Gang, lead character journalist David Reed risks injury and death to report on voting scams, then a violent strike, is sent to cover a military battle and uncovers a scandal, has on-and-off romances after his regular girlfriend deserts him, is sent to Federal Parliament and uncovers a ghastly sex scandal, then corruption among MPs, faces peril from a gang of bogan bikies, marries and travels abroad, then becomes deeply involved in reporting on the issue of refugees in boats. The novel is fiction, but some incidents may be based on events that happened in author John Kiely's life.

Kiely was a reporter, then columnist and sub-editor on the Melbourne Argus which closed in 1957. He went to Britain and worked on the Manchester Guardian, then Fleet Street papers. He returned to the Melbourne Herald, rising to Deputy Editor, and in 1978 joined The Age where over 14 years he rose to Deputy Editor. In 1993 he joined the Herald Sun as Opinion Editor, leaving journalism in 2010 at the age of 76.