When reporters Adam Hegarty and Dimity Clancey joined 60 Minutes this year, they luckily had each other to turn to as they both settled into their demanding new roles.
“It’s a whole different beast at 60,” Dimity, 40, tells TV WEEK. “It’s really special, but you have to be amazing at juggling everything.”
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Adam jokes that the duo didn’t necessarily “trauma bond”, but rather found a safe space with each other at their news desks at Australia’s leading current affairs program.
“We lean on each other,” Adam, 36, says. “Dimity is a world-class journalist, so she brings a wealth of experience to the table. I’m learning from her every day, along with everyone else in that office.”
And in that office, they join the already distinguished team of journalists, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Nick McKenzie and Amelia Adams.
“When you have the likes of Tara Brown [in] the office, it is a fantastic environment to be in,” Adam says.
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Adam’s career began in newspapers before the lure of television took hold, going on to work at Sky News UK and 9News, with the biggest story he ever covered being the catastrophic fire that roared through apartment building Grenfell Tower in London in June 2017, resulting in 72 deaths.
“The next morning was the most difficult,” he reveals. “You are confronted with grieving families wanting to believe their family members who lived there weren’t up there when the fire occurred.”
Dimity, an A Current Affair alum and mother of three, has a knack for breaking major crime stories, winning the Walkley Award in 2017 for her story detailing the chilling confessions of fugitive and murderer Malcolm Naden.
“I’d just had my second child – she was six weeks old [when I won the Walkley],” Dimity recalls. “It was a case that I had worked on for so long. I knew every person involved, whether it was police or the families. Some stories sit very close in your heart, and that was one of them.”
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At times when the news cycle and, therefore, their work days are heavily focused on tragedy, the pair agree they are both lucky to have strong support networks to come home to.
Adam met his partner and fellow 9News journalist, Amber Johnston, at work – and she knows more than anyone exactly what he goes through.
“It helps having a supportive partner who is in the trenches as well,” he says. “We appreciate it’s a very specific job.”
Dimity and her husband of nearly 10 years, Luke, have a particular ritual that helps them digest the day.
“We have a cup of tea and two squares of chocolate at the end of every day on the couch and debrief,” she says, “as old-fashioned and daggy as that is.”
