Ex-win Reporter New Face On 60 Minutes

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday November 16, 2000

By MICHELE TYDD and AAP

Who would have guessed a lanky young reporter around the traps in Wollongong in 1991 would go on to land one of the best media jobs in Australia.

Tara Brown's appointment to the Nine network's top-rating 60 Minutes program was announced yesterday only days after the controversial axing of reporter Jeff McMullen.

Brown, 32, a reporter on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, has gone from a WIN Television cadet journalist to a job which will take her all over the world covering stories many other journalists only dream about.

Brown said yesterday she was ``thrilled" by her appointment and was looking forward to her globetrotting assignments in 2001.

``I'm not a great packer but I think I'll learn," said Brown, the replacement for Ellen Fanning, who resigned.

``I'm still thinking I'm the luckiest woman in the world."

Former WIN news director in Wollongong, Terry Moore, who opened the door for Brown, said he immediately recognised her on-screen presence.

``She also had the ability to get to the crux of a story and dig out the essentials," he said.

Brown and newly recruited Peter Overton yesterday shrugged off comments by departing reporter Jeff McMullen who criticised 60 Minutes for its chequebook journalism.

Brown said she supported chequebook journalism to an extent. ``It's something we only do as a last resort and we don't pay criminals."