James Edward Macartney (15 July 1911 – 21 September 1977) was an Australian newspaper editor and executive from

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia. He served for periods as editor of the '' Daily News'' and ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times (Western Australia), The Sunday Times'' ...

'', and was later managing director of

West Australian Newspapers Ltd. West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

(WAN) from 1962 to 1969. Macartney was born in

Coolgardie, Western Australia Coolgardie is a small town in Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 850 people. Although Coolgardie is now known to most Western Australians as a tourist town and a mining ghost town, it wa ...

, to Constance May (née Griffith) and Edward Hussey Burgh Macartney. His father, a surveyor, was a grandson of

Hussey Macartney Hussey Burgh Macartney (10 April 1799 – 8 October 1894) was the Dean of Melbourne from 1852 until his death. The son of Sir John Macartney, 1st Baronet and his second wife Catherine Burgh (daughter of the eminent but short-lived judge Walter Hus ...

, a long-serving

Dean of Melbourne St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria. Th ...

. Macartney attended The High School in

, and went on to the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, where he edited two student publications, '' Sruss-Sruss'' and ''

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

''. He was

sent down Expulsion, also known as dismissal, withdrawal, or permanent exclusion (British English), is the permanent removal or banning of a student from a school, school district, college or university due to persistent violation of that institution's ru ...

from the university after antagonising its authorities. Macartney joined ''The West Australian'' in 1928, and the following year he was made a cadet reporter. In 1934, he was made editor of the ''Broadcaster'', a new weekly magazine published by WAN (the parent company of ''The West Australian''). Two years later, WAN bought the ''Daily News'', and Macartney became its editor. He remained in the position until 1951, although he took a leave of absence from 1942 to 1945 to serve in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. He reached the rank of

flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the Indi ...

, and spent periods with the No. 67 and No. 42 Squadrons, flying

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ...

s and Catalinas in the

South-West Pacific Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

. In 1951, Macartney was appointed managing editor of West Australian Newspapers and chief editor of ''The West Australian'', replacing the long-serving

Charles Patrick Smith Charles Patrick Smith (3 October 1877 – 5 August 1963) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor. He had long associations with '' The Argus'' (of Melbourne) and ''The West Australian'' (of Perth). Smith was born in Dundas, Ontario, Ca ...

. He left the latter post in 1956, but in 1962 was appointed WAN managing director, serving in that position until 1969. During his involvement with WAN, which had a virtual monopoly on the newspaper market in Western Australia, Macartney largely had his papers adopt right-wing positions, advocating free enterprise policies and supporting Australia's involvement in Vietnam. In 1952, he circumvented restrictions on media coverage of

Operation Hurricane Operation Hurricane was the first test of a British atomic device. A plutonium implosion device was detonated on 3 October 1952 in Main Bay, Trimouille Island, in the Montebello Islands in Western Australia. With the success of Operation H ...

( a nuclear test in the

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands (about 92 of which are named) lying north of Barrow Island and off the Pilbara coast of north-western Australia. The islands f ...

) by sending a team to a remote location near the

Rough Range Rough Range is a location in Western Australia where oil was discovered during an exploration drilling programme in 1953. West Australian Petroleum (WAPET) drilled its first well at Rough Range near North West Cape North West Cape is a penins ...

, which was able to capture the only press photographs of the event. After leaving WAN, Macartney began working as a consultant for STW Channel 9. He was employed in other consulting roles until his death from cancer in September 1977. Macartney had been married twice, firstly in 1932 to Edith Flanagan, with whom he had three children. He was divorced in 1941, and remarried to Margaret Bessell-Browne (née Bennett) in 1946, with whom he had another two children.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macartney, Jim 1911 births 1977 deaths Australian media executives Australian newspaper editors Australian people of Irish descent People educated at Hale School People from Coolgardie, Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II University of Western Australia alumni