Following up my longform articles for Undark and The Atlantic (links can be found in earlier posts) I filed this radio doco for ABC RN’s The Health Report on what is hopefully the end game against this devastating virus. Tragically, around the same time, vaccine-derived polio turned up right next door, in PNG, where the … Continue reading
Author Archives: Jo Chandler
Papua New Guinea’s Resource Curse
It’s almost 10 years since I went to PNG for the first time. One of the stories I was investigating on that first trip was what ExxonMobil’s looming, massive, much-hyped PNG LNG (liquified natural gas) project would mean for the people at its highlands source, and for the country. A dozen trips older and wiser, … Continue reading
Winner, Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards 2017, Best Feature
Very excited to win the 2017 Quill for Best Feature for my story on Antarctic glaciers and climate change for The Monthly Magazine. Link to the award and the judges comments, and the story, here: http://melbournepressclub.com/article/2017-quills–feature-writing Continue reading
PNG earthquake emergency
I was in Tari, in the PNG highlands, just three weeks ago researching a story on the social impacts there of the ExxonMobil PNG LNG. That story is still in production, due out late April, but meanwhile the landscape has changed dramatically and tragically. Here is a short story I filed in the aftermath for … Continue reading
2017 Melbourne Press Club Quill Awards
Excited to find my story for The Monthly, “The Totten Hots Up”, has been nominated for the Melbourne Press Club 2017 Quill for Feature Writing. Congrats to my fellow nominees – Michael Bachelard & Kate Geraghty (Fairfax), Margaret Burin (ABC), and Emily Woods (The Sunday Age). Continue reading
The last hard yard to wipe out polio
Earlier this year I went to northern Nigeria to research a story on the final push to wipe out wild poliovirus from the last crucibles of disease in terrorised parts of Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Commissioned by Undark magazine, it was co-published in The Atlantic. Continue reading
Walkley Awards: Freelance Journalist of the Year 2017
Judge’s Comments: “Jo Chandler was chosen for her compelling body of work exploring climate change. Her self-funded research and reporting delivered engaging features with very human insights into the complex facets of this century’s biggest story.” The Freelance Journalist of the Year Award is awarded by the Walkley Foundation, which oversees Australia’s most prestigious journalism … Continue reading
Hear Me Roar: Profile of Elizabeth Reid
About 10 years ago, when I started writing about PNG and women, I got an encouraging email out of the blue from one Elizabeth Reid. I confess, I had to google her – only one of the most mighty (and modest) feminist wayfinders of the ’70s and beyond. She was Gough’s “supergirl” but has been … Continue reading
Walkley Foundation: MEAA Best Freelance Journalist 2017 – Finalist
Thrilled to be have chosen as a finalist in the Mid-Year Walkleys for Freelance Journalist of the Year 2017. Big thanks due to Nick Feik, Editor of The Monthly, and Wendy Carlisle, Executive Produce ABC Radio National Background Briefing for the opportunities to go deep on stories – a rare opportunity for freelancers. The finalist … Continue reading
Putting the bite on malaria: Cosmos
My story for Cosmos magazine on the work of research scientists in Papua New Guinea into that diabolical human foe, the malaria parasite. Photos by Mayeta Clark. Link here. Continue reading