Frank Dixon lived in Neutral Bay and was a journalist for Sydney tabloid newspaper Truth throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He describes the kinds of stories he wrote, the editorial direction he was given, and the the threats and backlash he faced in the job.
Truth editor Ezra Norton waged war against the razor gangs and wanted to stamp them out, impacting editorial choices, according to Frank. Occasionally Frank covered court activity for the newspaper and he remembers reporting on strikes and union activity.
Frank interviewed Jack Lang when he was premier, and recalls his dismissal and relationship with Truth. The newspaper had a wide readership, and Frank believes gossip columns and sensationalist reporting was read by many people who didn’t care to admit to it. Frank explains the desire of journalists to write stories that were close to, but just stopped short of libel and describes his relationship with lawyers and editors at the newspaper.
Also employed at the ABC and as editor of the Goulburn Evening Post, Frank recalls his memories of this era more broadly. The Depression came on slowly, he said, and he remembers journalists walked from Brisbane and Maitland to Sydney just to find work.
GW: And the Truth waged a campaign against the Razor Gang.
FD: Oh yes, wanted to stamp them out.
GW: Was that Ezra Norton in particular?
B/02:49
FD: Yes, stamp them out at any price. The story went that — whether there was any truth in it or not, I don’t know — that – oh, I don’t know, I never got hold of them — but they said that Ezra used to come to the office in a Cadillac car in those days and they said one day when he got out of the car before he reached the office and was walking the rest of the way that a couple of thugs approached him and they knew him, of course, and threatened him and well when he arrived at the office he was in a state of fury and told the editor that all the resources the paper must be turned to clean up Darlinghurst at any price. And of course you could say almost anything about them without risk of libel, but you didn’t know who they were, they were all shadowy figures. The police could tell you the identity of some of them, but it was not enough to go on. They had various names, you see, and it was an intangible kind of thing, but his guns were turned on the police, that they should be given extended powers.
B/04:58 GW: To deal with them.
FD: More police on them, but the place had to be cleaned up. There was still a lot of respectable people living in the area who had a right to move about without being molested.
