MAN ON THE INSIDE

09 Mar 2018

As a crime journalist for more than 40 years, Simon Bouda has reported on some of the defining moments of Australia’s history.

In 2000, Simon Bouda was sent to Fiji to cover a military coup. “It was a siege”, he recalls. “There were government ministers taken hostage. We were let into the military compound. Even though they were masked and heavily armed, the rebels let us in for press conferences.”

One morning, Bouda and his cameraman found the rebels, more heavily armed than usual.

“They marched out of the compound and headed to a government roadblock. We followed them, expecting a confrontation, a tussle with some shoving – that’s what usually happened.”

On this particular day, however, the interaction escalated.

“As we got closer, the rebels grabbed the rifles and gunfire started. Bullets missed my head by inches. A cameraman was shot in the arm. He went down and was dragged away by his translator.

“He had dropped his camera, so I picked it up ... and we bolted down the street and managed to dive through a bush, landing in a cesspit up to our knees. It wasn’t very pleasant, but it was better than being in gunfire.”

It’s the kind of terrifying story you expect from someone with a career as distinguished as Bouda's, and he tells it with his characteristic style: engaging, descriptive and without sensationalism.

“What I didn’t realise was that when the cameraman was shot, the camera was still running. So those pictures went around the world.”

Bouda has reported on some of the most defining events of the past few decades, including Anita Cobby’s murder, the Boxing Day tsunami, the Christchurch earthquake and the Port Arthur massacre. In his new book, Deadline, he reflects on a lifetime of stories, and on the struggles and triumphs of a career forged in the midst of incredible tragedies.

Having started as a copyboy at the age of 15, he describes his career in journalism as “one of those things you call fate”. He was particularly captivated by the work of Australia’s leading crime journalists, including Bill Jenkings and Ced Culbert.

“When I watched how they worked, and the sort of gentlemen they were, I wanted to be like them. They taught me certain human values, like integrity, courage and confidentiality.”

These are values that can be difficult to uphold in the fast-paced world of crime journalism. Yet, throughout Bouda’s career, integrity has been at the heart of his work.

“I’ve met some wonderful people as a result of horrible things,”

Bouda credits his wife and children with giving him a vital support system during a career that, for all its success, has been intense and demanding. He sees his new book as a way to give back.

“My kids are getting older, and I’ve missed a lot of birthday parties and things that were important to them,” Bouda says. “This was a small way of documenting my life, so they had an idea of what I’ve done and why I did it.”