Michael Gawenda

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Michael Gawenda is an Australian journalist and was editor of The Age from 1997 to 2004.

He was born in a refugee camp in Austria following the Second World War. His family moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1949, where he attended state school and high school. He studied economics and politics at university.^[1]

He started his career in 1970, joining The Age as a cadet journalist. In 1997 he became editor and in 2003 editor-in-chief. During this time he became the subject of controversy when he rejected a Michael Leunig cartoon which compared the view that peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be achieved through military means with the Nazi slogan on the gates of Auschwitz, "Arbeit macht frei" (Work makes you free). He said that "I think it’s just inappropriate. Anyone seeing that cartoon would think it inappropriate."^[2]

In 2004 The Age supported John Howard's Liberal Party in the legislative election. Website Crikey.com claimed that this was in response to pressure from The Age's owners, John Fairfax Holdings Ltd.^[3] In an interview with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne, Gawenda vigorously denied the rumours - "It was a lie, Jon. The whole thing was a lie" and claimed that the issue of Fairfax's connections from the incumbent John Howard government was "never raised, never raised and never discussed, not for a moment and nor would I ever allow that to happen". ^[4]

On April 15, 2004 he announced that he would return to reporting, as The Age's Washington correspondent.^[5]

Gawenda has two children, Evie (1975-) and Chaskiel (1980-). Gawenda is the uncle of television producer and former senior football (soccer) player Harvey Silver. [1]