Pat Heffernan
Clare McDermott
Wednesday 06 July 2011
Clare McDermott was a rarity in our business: a journalist who was just as at home handling sports cover as any other general news. Reporting or desk work, he did it all with great skill, in the same mould as the great John (Pat) Heffernan, White House correspondent (and boxing writer).
Despite his wide experience as a correspondent and editor, his main achievement in Reuters was probably to breathe fresh life into the sports desk when he was appointed its editor. This appointment was not to the liking of all of Reuters top brass, some whom had little time for sports news and who, as one executive put it to me, felt that Clare was “too good for this job”.
In covering sport perhaps his crowning moment was at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, which coincided with a (rather reluctant) strike by much of the Reuter Olympic team, and the London desk, in sympathy with New York strikers.
Clare, who was in charge of the reporting team, was the leading light in organising a major TV watch. The few reporters we had left, some of them pretty raw, were assigned to watch the non-stop TV coverage of the major events. The operation was so successful that the Press Association sports editor described our coverage as “the best ever” and the BBC was also full of praise.
Calmness under pressure was one of Clare’s great qualities. I only ever saw him lose his temper once, over the Moscow security precautions. Identification was checked over and over again at the Olympic venues and the Hotel Rossiya, where the Reuter team was staying.
On one occasion Clare caused a big commotion trying to get into the hotel. Every time he went through the electric gates an alarm went off and Clare was sent back to remove whatever piece of metal was causing the problem. Having been sent back twice, and having removed his rings and a watch, Clare suddenly exploded, took off his shoes and hurled them to the ground in disgust, at the same time giving the security guards a real roasting. He was never bothered by the security men again.
Ron Cooper
Nick Carter adds: The Moscow Olympics success was a particular achievement for Clare and Ron Cooper (in charge of the desk in Moscow), as what they wrote got less than the normal revision on a strike-hit World Desk mostly reduced to a few “executives” like Ian Macdowall and me.
Clare had that characteristic Canadian combination of idealism and scepticism, and could be trusted to bring both to any task. Besides, although intimidatingly tall, beefy and athletic in appearance, he was the kindest and gentlest of men with whom to work or relax.
vbnbnbn
Despite his wide experience as a correspondent and editor, his main achievement in Reuters was probably to breathe fresh life into the sports desk when he was appointed its editor. This appointment was not to the liking of all of Reuters top brass, some whom had little time for sports news and who, as one executive put it to me, felt that Clare was “too good for this job”.
In covering sport perhaps his crowning moment was at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, which coincided with a (rather reluctant) strike by much of the Reuter Olympic team, and the London desk, in sympathy with New York strikers.
Clare, who was in charge of the reporting team, was the leading light in organising a major TV watch. The few reporters we had left, some of them pretty raw, were assigned to watch the non-stop TV coverage of the major events. The operation was so successful that the Press Association sports editor described our coverage as “the best ever” and the BBC was also full of praise.
Calmness under pressure was one of Clare’s great qualities. I only ever saw him lose his temper once, over the Moscow security precautions. Identification was checked over and over again at the Olympic venues and the Hotel Rossiya, where the Reuter team was staying.
On one occasion Clare caused a big commotion trying to get into the hotel. Every time he went through the electric gates an alarm went off and Clare was sent back to remove whatever piece of metal was causing the problem. Having been sent back twice, and having removed his rings and a watch, Clare suddenly exploded, took off his shoes and hurled them to the ground in disgust, at the same time giving the security guards a real roasting. He was never bothered by the security men again.
Ron Cooper
Nick Carter adds: The Moscow Olympics success was a particular achievement for Clare and Ron Cooper (in charge of the desk in Moscow), as what they wrote got less than the normal revision on a strike-hit World Desk mostly reduced to a few “executives” like Ian Macdowall and me.
Clare had that characteristic Canadian combination of idealism and scepticism, and could be trusted to bring both to any task. Besides, although intimidatingly tall, beefy and athletic in appearance, he was the kindest and gentlest of men with whom to work or relax.
vbnbnbn
David Mathew
Saturday 20 September 2008
“Big Dave” Mathew was a highly accomplished Australian journalist who mastered a variety of reporting and editing jobs in a long career.
Because he was a quiet, unassuming type he may not have got the accolades and recognition he deserved. But those who worked closely with him knew his worth and valued him highly.
I first knew him in the late 1950s and early 1960s when he was one of four reporters in the general news team in Washington led by the legendary Pat Heffernan. In such a small reporting group everyone had to pull their weight and Dave did so, although most of the overseas assignments with the president usually went to Pat or his able deputy Ralph Harris. Dave probably still had a corporate connection at that time with AAP, a Reuters shareholder, and in 1962 or 63 he left Washington to return to his home town of Melbourne to be AAP’s diplomatic correspondent, concentrating on ANZUS links at a time when Kennedyites worried about falling dominoes in South East Asia. But Oz was too small to contain him for more than a few years.
Dave returned to the U.S. capital and Reuters in about 1968 and I can vouch for his excellent work when I had an editing job there in 1969-71. He covered press conferences, kept the bureau file running through weekends when he was often the lone White House man on duty, and could churn out news analyses speedily on any subject. I remember one Saturday during the Nixon presidency when Vietnam was the raging issue and Dickie decided to hold a press conference at short notice. It ran to 20 questions in half an hour. Dave covered it alone for Reuters and didn’t rely much if anything on the transcript that came out several hours later. I got hit with the same problem with LBJ while he was visiting New York a few years earlier and found it an absolute nightmare but Dave had good shorthand and an orderly mind and sailed through with his usual aplomb.
Dave decided to move on in 1971 and transferred to London where he and his family set up home at Epsom, near the famous racecourse and close to Tattenham Corner - but the view of the horses was wasted on him as he had little interest. Dave did sterling work for several years as senior sub (night editor) in the London Bureau, fielding a lot of difficult stories. LB had special pressures in those days with staff thin on the ground at night and the Fleet Street nationals breaking a lot of scandal stories about Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, Lord Lambton, Marcia Williams et al. After a few years Dave moved to the World Desk where he became a strong filer and master of the routing codes, knowing exactly where to send stories around the world. He always had a great eye for incongruous leads - the latter talent he continued in retirement, keeping fellow retirees abreast of the many bad leads he came across in his wide readings of the international press.
In retirement Dave settled in Sarasota, a very attractive part of Florida where he did some offshore fishing in his boat that he often moored at the bottom of his garden. He and Hilda also took a liking to cruising in ocean liner, usually in Pacific and Asian waters.
Allan Barker
Because he was a quiet, unassuming type he may not have got the accolades and recognition he deserved. But those who worked closely with him knew his worth and valued him highly.
I first knew him in the late 1950s and early 1960s when he was one of four reporters in the general news team in Washington led by the legendary Pat Heffernan. In such a small reporting group everyone had to pull their weight and Dave did so, although most of the overseas assignments with the president usually went to Pat or his able deputy Ralph Harris. Dave probably still had a corporate connection at that time with AAP, a Reuters shareholder, and in 1962 or 63 he left Washington to return to his home town of Melbourne to be AAP’s diplomatic correspondent, concentrating on ANZUS links at a time when Kennedyites worried about falling dominoes in South East Asia. But Oz was too small to contain him for more than a few years.
Dave returned to the U.S. capital and Reuters in about 1968 and I can vouch for his excellent work when I had an editing job there in 1969-71. He covered press conferences, kept the bureau file running through weekends when he was often the lone White House man on duty, and could churn out news analyses speedily on any subject. I remember one Saturday during the Nixon presidency when Vietnam was the raging issue and Dickie decided to hold a press conference at short notice. It ran to 20 questions in half an hour. Dave covered it alone for Reuters and didn’t rely much if anything on the transcript that came out several hours later. I got hit with the same problem with LBJ while he was visiting New York a few years earlier and found it an absolute nightmare but Dave had good shorthand and an orderly mind and sailed through with his usual aplomb.
Dave decided to move on in 1971 and transferred to London where he and his family set up home at Epsom, near the famous racecourse and close to Tattenham Corner - but the view of the horses was wasted on him as he had little interest. Dave did sterling work for several years as senior sub (night editor) in the London Bureau, fielding a lot of difficult stories. LB had special pressures in those days with staff thin on the ground at night and the Fleet Street nationals breaking a lot of scandal stories about Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, Lord Lambton, Marcia Williams et al. After a few years Dave moved to the World Desk where he became a strong filer and master of the routing codes, knowing exactly where to send stories around the world. He always had a great eye for incongruous leads - the latter talent he continued in retirement, keeping fellow retirees abreast of the many bad leads he came across in his wide readings of the international press.
In retirement Dave settled in Sarasota, a very attractive part of Florida where he did some offshore fishing in his boat that he often moored at the bottom of his garden. He and Hilda also took a liking to cruising in ocean liner, usually in Pacific and Asian waters.
Allan Barker
