Chesborough Ranald Macdonald (born 27 June 1938) known personally and professionally as Ranald Macdonald, is a retired Australian journalist, media executive, broadcaster and educator. Macdonald served as Managing Director of David Syme & Co. Limited (publisher of ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' newspaper in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
) from 1964 to 1983 and as editor-in-chief from 1966 to 1970. From 1995 until 1999 he served as the Chairman of the
Boston University College of Communication
__NOTOC__
Boston University College of Communication (COM) is a communication school at Boston University. It was founded in 1947 as the School of Public Relations. The College of Communication is the oldest public relations school in the United ...
Department of Journalism.
Early life
Macdonald was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia, to Hamish Claude Henry Macdonald and Nancy Alison Syme, on 27 June 1938. He spent his early years in
Wantabadgery
Wantabadgery is a village community in the central eastern part of the Riverina situated about 35 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga and 19 kilometres west of Nangus. At the , Wantabadgery had a population of 299.
Wanta Badgery Post Office ...
West, near
Wagga Wagga
Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, where the family neighbours included
Sir Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist, businessman and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the current Executive chairman for News Corporation and the chairman of Fox Corporation.
Early life
Murdoc ...
and his family, cousins of his mother Nancy.
His father Hamish, a captain in the
Second Australian Imperial Force,
2/19th Battalion, was killed in the Fall of Singapore on 19 January 1942, leaving three children — Ranald and two sisters, Jean and Morna. It was two years before the family had confirmation of his death.
His mother Nancy later re-married Colonel E.H.B. (Ted) Neill, known as "The Colonel" and they had one child, James. The Colonel had shared rooms at
Jesus College, Cambridge University with Hamish Macdonald.
Education
Macdonald was educated at
Geelong Grammar School, where he was a boarder from the age of 6 and attended the inaugural year of Geelong Grammar's rural Victorian campus
Timbertop
Timbertop is a full-time boarding, co-educational campus of Geelong Grammar School located near Mansfield, Victoria, Australia.
Established in 1953, by then Headmaster James Darling, Timbertop is compulsory for all year-nine students attend ...
, when it opened in 1953. The innovative educational program at Timbertop gained fame when H.R.H.
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
attended in 1966. Macdonald greatly admired his Headmaster,
Sir James Darling, who initiated Timbertop and gave the eulogy at his grandfather Oswald Syme's funeral.
As did his father, Macdonald attended Jesus College, Cambridge, where he studied law and history from 1957 to 1960. On completing his degree, Macdonald returned to Australia and worked as a cadet reporter at ''The Age'' for three years, until a fortuitous golf game with a US naval captain at
Royal Melbourne Golf Club, led to an introduction to
Ed Barrett, Dean of the
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...
. Macdonald had scribbled his details on the back of their scorecard, which resulted in him attending Columbia on scholarship to study a combined business and journalism Master of Science degree (1963–64), the first of its kind in the United States.
For his thesis, Macdonald imagined 'The Great American Newspaper'. He cherry-picked the top editorial initiatives and other aspects of the best newspapers in America and combined them to create his 'ideal' publication, selecting opinion pieces from the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', political coverage from ''
The Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...
'' in
Louisville, editorials from the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', classified ads from the ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'' and advertising from the ''
Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'', among others.
He sent a copy of his thesis to each newspaper he had featured, and was invited to visit almost all of them. He undertook a road trip to learn about the best in American journalism before returning to Australia. Macdonald was offered a few jobs along the way, one by
Katharine Graham
Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, ''The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, whi ...
at the ''Washington Post'', who became a good friend.
Career
''The Age''
In 1964, a twist of fate saw Macdonald appointed to the position of managing director of ''The Age'' when his grandfather and chairman of Age publisher David Syme & Co. Limited,
Oswald Syme Oswald may refer to:
People
* Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...
, misheard his grandson and thought he was threatening to leave the paper unless he was given the position. He was actually suggesting the role of marketing manager. He served as managing director until 1983.
Also in 1964, the board of David Syme & Co. appointed Macdonald's stepfather, Colonel Neill, as Chairman when Oswald retired.
In his early years at ''The Age'', Macdonald rebuffed takeover bids by, among others,
Frank Packer
Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family.
Early life
Frank Packer was born in K ...
, his own cousin
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' owner
Roy Thomson. To maintain the newspaper's independence, Macdonald created the Syme-Fairfax Partnership with
John Fairfax & Sons, which allowed the Syme Trust to continue after Oswald's death in 1967. The partnership ran from 1966 until 1983, when Fairfax bought out the remaining shares in David Syme and Co. and Macdonald stepped down as managing director.
In 1966, after two years of battles, Macdonald replaced deeply entrenched editor Keith Sinclair and appointed
Graham Perkin
Edwin Graham Perkin (16 December 1929 – 16 October 1975) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor.
Early life
Perkin was born at Hopetoun, Victoria, elder son of Herbert Edwin Perkin, baker, and his wife Iris Lily, née Graham, bo ...
, while Macdonald assumed the role of editor-in-chief, serving until 1970. Macdonald and Perkin guided the paper through a transformation from its staid, conservative roots to what news magazine ''
The Bulletin
Bulletin or The Bulletin may refer to:
Periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals)
* Bulletin (online newspaper), a Swedish online newspaper
* ''The Bulletin'' (Australian periodical), an Australian magazine (1880–2008)
** Bulletin Debate, ...
'' called "Australia's Most Important Newspaper".
Macdonald and Perkin set out to make ''The Age'' the best, most influential and trusted journal, through quality journalism, encouragement and leadership. Their partnership was described by John Jost in ''Playboy'' as, "a perfect union of editorial and newspaper management skills". They believed in challenging decisionmakers and informing the public so that readers of ''The Age'' could make up their own minds about issues.
Macdonald's tenure saw sweeping changes at ''The Age'', including the addition of bylines to stories and the introduction of columnists, such as highly respected
Phillip Adams. An independent ombudsman was hired and a corrections column was launched, entitled "We Were Wrong". Columnists like
Nancy Dexter broke ground for women journalists with her column "Nancy Dexter Takes Note" discussing issues of the day, including the fight for equal pay, domestic violence and abortion law reform. Macdonald and Perkin introduced talented cartoonists to readers of ''The Age'', including
Les Tanner,
Ron Tandberg,
Bruce Petty
Bruce Leslie Petty, born 23 November 1929 at Doncaster, Victoria, Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's best known political satire, political satirists and cartoonists. ,
Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig (born 2 June 1945), typically referred to as Leunig (his signature on his cartoons), is an Australian cartoonist. His works include ''The Curly Pyjama Letters'', cartoon books ''The Essential Leunig'', ''The Wayward Leunig'', ' ...
,
John Spooner
John Spooner B.Juris, LLB ( Monash) (born 1946) is an Australian journalist and illustrator who regularly contributed to ''The Age'' newspaper.
John Spooner was born in Melbourne in 1946. He practised as a lawyer for three years before he com ...
and
Peter Nicholson.
In 1981, Macdonald prodded the Victorian Government to establish the Norris Inquiry into press ownership in Victoria, as he believed that a significant investment by John Fairfax & Sons in the Herald and Weekly Times group, the Melbourne-based rival of ''The Age'', created a conflict of interest.
Macdonald stepped down as managing director in 1983. That same year, the Syme–Fairfax partnership ended as the Syme family found it impossible to continue its financial support of the partnership.
Academia
Having lectured on journalism at
Curtin and
Murdoch
Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name.
...
Universities, Macdonald accepted a position in 1987 as associate professor at the
Royal Melbourne University of Technology (later known as RMIT), serving until 1995, when he accepted a faculty position at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
. Chilean professor
Claudio Veliz, under Chancellor
John Silber
John Robert Silber (August 15, 1926 – September 27, 2012) was an American academician and candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996, he was President of Boston University (BU) and, from 1996 to 2002, Chancellor. From 2002 to 2003, he again ...
, headhunted Macdonald for the University Professors program, which already included Nobel Prize laureates
Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel b ...
and
Saul Bellow. He became chair of the Department of Journalism within a year.
Macdonald established special summer programs to help orient foreign students in Boston, including American Journalism and American Society, in order to expose the students to different accents and new ideas. Macdonald also created The Boston University Great Debate series, inspired by Oxford–Cambridge debating. These debates were broadcast live on WBUR public radio, and became so popular that the final one during Macdonald's tenure was broadcast on C-SPAN, an arrangement that continued after Macdonald's departure.
In 1999, Macdonald accepted the position of Boston University's international programme in London, where he helped to establish new overseas study programs in Auckland and Sydney. He co-founded the European Study Abroad Program (EUSA), a company which organises internships for thousands of American students a year in Dublin, Grenoble, Madrid, Paris, Sydney, London, Los Angeles and Boston.
Other work
Macdonald served as President of
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...
from 1982 to 1986. He appointed
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the .
Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the ic ...
, who later coached Collingwood to the Premiership in 1990, ending a 32-year title drought.
Before leaving ''The Age'', Macdonald was appointed by Victorian Premier
John Cain Jr.
John Cain (26 April 1931 – 23 December 2019) was an Australian politician who was the 41st Premier of Victoria, in office from 1982 to 1990 as leader of the Labor Party. During his time as premier, reforms were introduced such as liberalis ...
to chair Victoria's 150th Anniversary Board from 1982–85, which organised the yearlong activities. He also represented Victoria on the Australian Bicentennial Authority (ABA) from 1983–85, but resigned, with the support of Prime Minister
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...
, over his concerns about financial irregularities at the ABA.
In 1983, he turned down an invitation from then Chairman of the ABC,
Ken Myer, to become the first Managing Director of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
(ABC).
In 1990, he began hosting ABC Radio 774/3LO's leading current affairs show between 8:30 until 10am every weekday. He successfully increased ratings until his departure in 1995.
Honours and awards
* Elected to the Media Hall of Fame at the
Melbourne Press Club, 2014
* Officer of the Order of Australia , 1986
Associations
* Chairman,
International Press Institute (IPI), Australian section (1971–84)
* Founder,
Australian Press Council
The Australian Press Council (APC) was established in 1976 and is responsible for promoting high standards of media practice, community access to information of public interest, and freedom of expression through the media. The council is also the ...
* President, Australian Newspapers Council (1974–77)
* Chairman, Media Council of Australia (1975–77)
* Vice Chairman IPI, Asian and Pacific Region (1978–80)
* World Chairman IPI (1978–80; first Australian to hold the position)
* Vice Chairman, Press Foundation of Asia (1981–84)
Personal life
Macdonald is the great-grandson of powerful newspaper proprietor
David Syme
David Syme (2 October 1827 – 14 February 1908) was a Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of ''The Age'' and regarded as "the father of protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victoria.C. E. Sayers,Syme, Da ...
, who with his brother
Ebenezer Ebenezer may refer to:
Bible
* Eben-Ezer, a place mentioned in the Books of Samuel
People
* Ebenezer (given name), a male given name
Places Australia
* Ebenezer, New South Wales
* Ebenezer, Queensland, a locality in the City of Ipswich
* Ebeneze ...
, bought ''The Age'' in 1854. They turned it into a powerful force for political and social change in Victoria.
On 11 August 1973, Macdonald married Patricia Tryon in Great Durnford, Wiltshire, England. They have two children, Laura (born 30 December 1974) and Hamish (born 27 April 1977). Patricia has worked in many areas of the arts, including exhibition curation.
She re-opened and ran the Melbourne office of
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction house, became head of the pictures department and later a director of the company.
In 1985, unsuccessful investments in a string of health clubs combined with an over-commitment to unpaid positions, led to financial troubles for Macdonald.
Macdonald is passionate about golf and has won numerous championships at Royal Melbourne and Barwon Heads. He is a life member of
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...
, Scotland. The late champion
Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to:
* Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer
* Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations
* Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer
* Peter ...
was one of his closest friends.
Macdonald continues to campaign for press freedom and for the independence of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
. He is active in community environmental projects on the
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geogra ...
, where he has retired with his wife Patricia.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Ranald
1938 births
Living people
People educated at Geelong Grammar School
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Journalists from Melbourne
Australian newspaper editors
Academic staff of RMIT University
Boston University faculty
Officers of the Order of Australia
Collingwood Football Club administrators