In a public lecture sponsored by the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law and delivered at Monash University Law Chambers in Melbourne on 15 October 2009, Tony Maniaty explored the complex relationship between frontline war reporting and international humanitarian law, focusing on the Balibo tragedy in East Timor in 1975. To hear the full address or read the transcript, click here.

Shooting Balibo delivers 'a memoir with a journalistic eye, journalism with cinematic vision, history uninhibited by very personal speculations,' says reviewer Marcus O'Donnell, journalism co-ordinator at the School of Journalism and Creative Writing, University of Wollongong. ' Tony Maniaty's attention to simple detail, his commitment to the imaginative power of the ordinary and his ability to layer history with the force of honest emotion is what makes this narrative engaging and an important and original achievement.' To read the full review from the October 2009 edition of Pacific Journalism Review, click here.

Tony Maniaty addressed the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney on 26 August 2009 on 'Television and War: The Legacy of Balibo'. Difficult and dangerous work, covering wars has become a core component of modern conflict - from Vietnam to Iraq, TV coverage has impacted strongly on public support for wars and strategic policy.

But it's also met barriers: from embedding and censorship to the deliberate targeting, kidnapping and cold-blooded murder of journalists. Tony Maniaty referred to the more than 1,000 media workers who've died on the job worldwide in the past decade, outlined strategies for reducing the toll, and called on governments to use every means at their disposal to investgate and prosecute those who kill journalists attempting to seek out the truth.

Listen to Tony's introductory remarks here and the full address here.

Organised by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism and UTS Journalism, a special screening of Balibo in Sydney on 18 August 2009 raised more than $2,700 for the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute (INSI), which provides training and protection for journalists working in dangerous situations.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion hosted by ABC presenter Quentin Dempster, featuring actor Anthony LaPaglia (playing Roger East), actor Damon Gameau (playing Greg Shackleton), Balibo Director of Photography Tristan Milani, and Tony Maniaty, author of Shooting Balibo and senior lecturer in international journalism at the University of Technology Sydney. Tony covered the war in East Timor in 1975 for ABC News. 

INSI's Director, Rodney Pinder, sent an email thanking all those involved. 'The money raised will be ploughed back into INSI's safety work. Every contribution to INSI goes toward helping colleagues who put their lives on the line to tell the story yet lack the resources adequately to protect themselves. It is of course too late for the Balibo Five and Roger East but perhaps your initiative and the attendant publicity will help achieve some justice at last. It most certainly will contribute in a very real and practical way to helping save lives in the future.' For more about INSI's work, visit http://www.newssafety.org/

Below left: Tristan Milani, Tony Maniaty, Damon Gameau and Anthony LaPaglia at Palace Cinema, Leichhardt, Sydney. Below right: Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Maniaty at INSI fundraiser. (Photos: Jon Harris/Kim Noble)