Inside Out
By Anita Joshua
A Hack's Progress, Phillip Knightley, Lotus, Rs. 295
PHILLIP KNIGHTLEY'S portrait of the media may appear strange. Into his latter day success went years of doubt that saw him leave the profession more than once to do the odd job, including selling vacuum cleaners and running a restaurant. Here is a man who had to work his way up the ladder. Not for him sure-footedness or overnight success.
In his autobiography A Hack's Progress — first published in 1997 by Jonathan Cape and brought to India now by Lotus — Knightley takes a candid look at his journey in journalism; right down to making up a story in sheer desperation. Also, having worked for Murdoch publications both in Australia and in the U.K. — admittedly playing a bit role in Rupert Murdoch's negotiations to buy Sunday Times — his narrative allows a sneak view into the multi-media empire spanning continents.
An Australian by birth, Knightley was part of the Sunday Times Insight team for two decades and has to his credit several newsbreaks including the Kim Philby spy scandal and the Profumo sex scandal. An insider's view into the profession, what makes for an interesting read is not so much the story behind these big stories but Knightley's own struggle. Particularly telling is his account of finding a toe-hold in the profession and then breaking into London's closed Fleet Street circuit.
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