http://www.undercover.com.au/pics/richardcarleton.jpg
The 62-year-old 60 Minutes reporter was, typically, on the scene at the biggest story in the country, at a press conference outside the Beaconsfield goldmine in Tasmania yesterday afternoon.As the veteran journalist waited for what would be his last media conference to begin, a small girl asked for an autograph. Without hesitation, he obliged. "Have a healthy life," he wrote alongside his name.
Minutes later, he threw his final verbal hand grenade, aimed squarely at mine manager Matthew Gill. "Mr Gill, on the 26th of October last year, not 10m from where these men are now entombed, you had a 400-tonne rock fall. Is it (because of) the wealth of the seam that you continue to send men in to work in such a dangerous environment?" Carleton asked.
Gill ignored the question, but it was a good one. It was not the first question on the previous rock fall Gill had faced, but the mine manager was shaken, coming as it did from such a senior newsman.
Before Gill finished his answer, Carleton turned to his crew's camera, walked about eight metres, and collapsed.
Police media liaison officer Phil Pyke, aided by a commercial radio journalist and a Seven Network technician, began resuscitation efforts -- but they were in vain, as were further attempts by paramedics, who had been on standby for the mine rescue under way 925m below.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at Launceston General Hospital at 2.12pm yesterday.
Tracy Grimshaw, the host of Nine's A Current Affair, and Carleton's producer, Howard Sacre, watched on as their colleague was treated by paramedics.
"He'd just finished treatment for an illness and was back on the road," Grimshaw told The Australian last night.
"When he was supposed to be resting he was doing news reports. It was a privilege to work with him."
As he would have wanted, Carleton's report on the mine disaster went ahead on Sixty Minutes last night. The show's presenter, Liz Hayes, struggled to maintain her composure as she presented her colleague's story.
"This is the saddest of days for all of us at Sixty Minutes," Hayes said. "There's nothing surer, Richard would have wanted his story to go to air. He went in search of the story behind the story."
Nine chief executive Eddie McGuire said Carleton was one of Australia's great journalists. "Just last month he was in Chernobyl reporting there and risking his health as he has done so much," Mr McGuire said. "He was a superstar. He would never shirk from asking the tough questions."
John Westacott, the 60 Minutes executive producer, said Carleton was a force to be reckoned with. "Nothing was ever done by half measures," Westacott said. "There are few people in this business who you can say are irreplaceable -- Richard is one of them."
John Howard said he was shocked and saddened by Carleton's death. "He was a great television personality. I knew him well," the Prime Minister said. "I extend my deepest sympathy to his family and colleagues at 60 Minutes."
