Gittins: A Life of Budgets, Bulldust and Bastardry

A book about Ross Gittins' life and techniques as an economic journalist. This will draw on a wide range of material: a bit of autobiography/reminiscence about 30+ years at the SMH; a bit on his conclusions about journalism (not flattering), and politics (ditto); about how Gittins operated as a columnist (how you pick topics; keep changing the subject; avoid the columnist's terminal sin, predictability; and keep searching for the "change of pace"); about writing for the reader, not to impress contacts or other journalists; about the techniques used to make economics interesting and accessible to the public; about how to lie with graphs and statistics, etc. This book is intended to be Gittins' legacy to the economic journalists of the future, but will be of interest to a much wider audience.