Hard men of Aussie media
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RAW VISION: David Gyngell gives a brief response to media questioning after his punch up with James Packer.
James Packer and David Gyngell are the bearers of a singular tradition in Sydneys media battleground: real blokes settle things with their fists, assuming a bullwhip or a revolver isnt handy.
The kerbside stoush between the two former friends reminds those with a sense of history that Sydneys media barons and bosses have long caused some of the citys most fabulous front-page stories through their propensity to go the biff.
James Packers father Kerry, along with Kerrys brother Clyde, were involved in a marvellous late-night brawl in 1960 with a gang of thugs hired by Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch was determined to evict the Packers from the premises of the Anglican Press, which owned a printing plant that held the key to control of Sydneys newspapers.
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The Daily Mirror subsequently published, beneath the screaming headline Knights Son in City Brawl, a picture of Clyde Packer tossing a one-legged clergyman into the street. The Packers lost the stoush. Kerry, a former schoolboy heavyweight boxing champion, was clouted with a six-by-four timber post and Clyde reportedly suffered a wound from a dart to the buttocks. Murdoch is supposed to have orchestrated events via two-way radio from the safety of a nearby park.
Kerry and Clydes father, Sir Frank Packer, had previously found himself in a celebrated dispute involving fisticuffs with the colourful media tycoon Ezra Norton. Packer, owner of the Daily Telegraph, and Norton, who ran Truth, had been trading verbal and newspaper-article blows before meeting at Randwick Racecourse on Derby Day in 1939.
Not afraid to go the biff: James and Kerry Packer. Photo: Reuters
Norton was infuriated that the Daily Telegraph had been publishing unflattering photographs of him. He hauled off and thumped Packer when they came across each other in the racecourse bar, and a ding-dong ensued. Norton was forced to apologise to the Australian Jockey Club committee because he had thrown the first punch.
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Hard men of Aussie media