FIRST it was the women, now it's the leading men of the small screen's turn.

Together they shape the way the nation sees the world and bring some of the biggest stories to life on the small screen.

So it was no mean feat getting the leading men of Australian TV journalism into the one room.

With thousands of hours of air time, decades of experience and ages ranging from NITV's Kris Flanders's 26, to veteran broadcaster and Sky News presenter Terry Willesee's 67 years, it was a chance for many to swap stories and inspiration.

One subject that featured heavily was the late Peter Harvey. Clearly admired and respected by his peers, this picture was taken a week before his death.

Channel Ten's Hugh Riminton summed up why many of them chose a careeer in journalism: ''Peter was a fantastic storyteller and a great character. It's about telling stories. That's why we do it.''

1. Stan Grant

Age: 49

International editor, host, Sky News

''I was travelling with the Mongolian president who fancied himself as a bit of a sportsman. Being Australian he thought I was a great swimmer and he fancied himself as one. I couldn't beat him as he was the president of Mongolia, but I couldn't disgrace myself because I was Australian. I had to get close enough to keep my dignity . . . in a freezing lake, while giving the president of Mongolia a head start.''

2. Adam Hawse

Age: 38

Sports presenter, 10

''In 2005 Wests Tigers went down to Campbelltown to meet the fans. They spotted me in my suit, ready to work, and thought I was an easy victim. Next thing I was on the bottom of a stacks-on pile with all the Wests Tigers players. That made it to air and it was pretty funny.

''I really admire most of the guys in this room. There are some legends here. Anyone who can hold the viewer, day after day, is someone you look up to.''

3. Kris Flanders

Age: 36

Presenter, NITV News

"The hardest story I ever did was about the problem with petrol and paint-sniffing among the young kids in an Aboriginal community in Queensland.
Walking down the street were two teenagers, one expecting a baby. Both had a Coke bottle of white paint which they were sniffing. All I wanted to do was knock the bottles out of their hands. It really upset me and I went home and cried that night."

4. Scott Bevan

Age: 48

Presenter, ABC News 24

''Now that I am sitting behind a desk and I am talking to those who are out there dealing with the trauma, and length and breadth of humanity, I admire anyone who is doing that and it also makes me mighty envious.''

5. Terry Willesee

Age: 67

Presenter, Sky News

''My hardest job came in the US when I covered the Oklahoma City bombing. It was just terribly, terribly sad.

I worked all day on that

story and went home about midnight to my hotel, and I turned on the television and, of course, the story was on there as well, and I burst into tears. Even now as I speak I still feel that emotion that comes back.''

6. Peter Wilkins

Age: 55

Sports presenter, ABC News 24

''In hindsight the funniest time was when I was doing a preview for the 1985 World Cup soccer qualifier for Scotland. I went up to Kenny Dalglish, the famous footballer, and put my hand out and said: 'Welcome from ABC'. He didn't acknowledge me, he walked straight past me. Didn't even look.''

7. Joe O'Brien

Age: 44

Presenter, ABC News 24

''It's changed so much over the last 10 years in the delivery of news. Now there are so many sources of news. At the core of journalism is still really strong storytelling. While the media is adapting on the delivery, that is still at the core.''

8. Ross Coulthard

Age: 51

Investigative reporter, 7

''I lived in a very remote country town in New Zealand when I was growing up and my father subscribed to every single paper you could get.

I grew up surrounded by the world's greatest journalism. Due to the sheer unadulterated boredom of country New Zealand I decided I wanted to have an adventure. I decided I wanted to become a journalist.''

9. Carson Scott

Age: 36

Host, Sky News Business

''I admire (reporter and presenter) Sir David Frost. You kind of can't go past him. What resonates there is he's always been the consummate gentleman, he has that incredible ability to connect on so many levels and does it without any airs and graces.''

10. Peter Overton

Age: 47

Nine News Sydney Presenter

''The funny moments - there are a ton of them where you miss your cue. The other night I was just sitting there watching the monitor and didn't realise I was on until I got a whistle from the floor manager. You just have to laugh. I think the viewer appreciates that you're only human, and if you react in a human way, they get it.''

11. Michael Willesee Jr

Age: 45

Host, Sky News

''My father (Mike Willesee Sr) is still someone I admire on television. It's not just the people on television. Those who run these shows and bring them together - the producers and senior producers - work a lot harder than people realise. Some of the best people are not in front of the camera.''

12. Ryan Liddle
Age: 26
Presenter, NITV News

"My first live broadcast I had to read to an audience of about half a million and I was 17 or 18. As one of the youngest newsreaders at the time I was pretty scared to say the least.

I remember my hand shaking on the autocue and I was sweating profusely when I got out of there."

13. Jeremy Fernandez

Age: 34

Presenter, ABC News 24

''A very well known Perth Channel 9 newsreader who is long gone now told me I wouldn't make it in this business. I've had a few times when people say to me: 'You're not going to make it'.

Cracking it is a really, really tough thing. The toughest thing I ever did was the very first day reading news for Australia Network. The autocue failed and they couldn't fix it for the entire half an hour. My first gig!''

14. Chris Uhlmann

Age: 52

Political editor, 7.30, ABC

''I came into TV pretty late.

I have only been doing it for a few years, but even in that time there has been the explosion of 24-hour television.

The entire environment is changing enormously and there are so many different ways you can get broadcast information now.''

15. Brad McEwan

Age: 42

Sports presenter, 10

''There are so many people in this room who I respect. To be among this group is a privilege. In my 14 years in television, one thing hasn't changed. If you work hard you can do whatever you want.''

16. Ken Sutcliffe

Age: 65

Sports presenter, 9

''My first job - when I couldn't get a role on radio because I was too shy and couldn't speak very well - was in the local barber shop where I had great training. There is a saying that 'there is a week between a good and bad haircut'. I could make it a month. The hardest thing for me was getting the confidence to know that I was going to be all right in the gig. That took a long time, until my late 30s.''

17. Andrew O'Keefe

Age: 42

Host, Weekend Sunrise, 7

''Being a television journalist didn't make my top 20 list of things I wanted to do as a school-leaver. Like every kid, I was going to be a rock 'n' roll star or an actor and possibly an archaeologist if I wanted something to fall back on. It helped that I wasn't talented in any of those areas.''

18. Anton Enus

Age: 51

Presenter, World News, SBS

''My first job in TV was a station announcer. The first thing I ever introduced was the movie Psycho. Working on breakfast television in South Africa, I got a call at 5.40 in the morning to go on air at 6am. I got out of bed and jumped into my car and I was on air at 6am, unshaven, no make-up, but I read the news. Didn't miss the deadline.''

19. Matt Doran

Age: 30

Presenter, reporter, 10

''My first job was for the Mornington Peninsula Leader in Victoria and I was sent out to cover a disturbance overnight. The editor said: 'Don't come back without the interview'. I got to the house, crept around the back, someone swings open a door and swung a guitar at my head and it connected quite well. We had a stand off for a bit, and then he invited me in for a cup of tea. It was a baptism by fire.''

20. Lachlan Kennedy

Age: 28

Reporter, 10

''Two years ago I was reading the sport at WIN and every technological piece of equipment that could go wrong did and I was stranded without anything for four minutes. Nothing worked, it was train-crash television. At one point an ad for The Mentalist started playing on the green screen behind me.''

21. Kieran Gilbert

Age: 38

Chief political reporter,

Sky News

''The hardest job I did was the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004; the grief of some of those people was so difficult to process and it has stayed with me to this day.''

22. David Speers

Age: 38

Political editor, Sky News

''The toughest story was in Afghanistan. I jumped in a Black Hawk helicopter.

Immediately I took off and I knew I was in trouble and I was almost falling out the side of one of these choppers.

An almighty wind was blaring in my face and I was filming. I thought I was going to fall out and meet my end.''

23. Ricardo Goncalves

Age: 32

Presenter, SBS

''The funniest thing I had to do was interview Richard Branson on the inaugural flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. The planes have what they call 'intimate areas' where they curtain them off into two seats. Richard said: 'Come in here'. I had to shoot it myself in this tiny space.''

24. Hamish Macdonald

Age: 31

Presenter, 10

''We are becoming more outward looking at the decades ahead. I think our job is not just to tell domestic stories, it will be to tell people those stories in the context of the world.''

25. Cameron Williams

Age: 50

Presenter, 9

''My absolute hardest moment - and there's absolutely no doubt about this - was calling the Barcelona Olympics equestrian event.

It was dressage day and Lucinda Green, the world-class equestrian commentator had failed to turn up. I called it for two hours with absolutely no clue.

There were lots of references to how pretty the horse was, how beautiful the surrounds were to the arena. I still make myself sweat just thinking about that day.''

26. Jim Wilson

Age: 45

Sports presenter, 7

''The biggest challenge is scandal in sport - to get the fine line between reporting the facts, staying balanced and staying impartial. Sex and drugs scandals are difficult.''

27. Mark Ferguson

Age: 47

Presenter, 7

''It was tough to start off as a presenter in the studio.

I found that very challenging - a lot of nerves in a brand new environment.

But one of my hardest jobs was going into Somalia in a civil war. Some of the things we had to cover, watching young children pass away, were very difficult. It has stuck with me for a long time.''

28. Larry Emdur

Age: 48

Morning Show host, 7

''My first job was writing for the Bondi Spectator when I was 16. I was also a copy boy with The Sun. The funniest story I ever did was when we had Joan Rivers on the show. She came on air and said: 'Can I say the word vagina?' We are lucky enough to work in a space where highlights like that present themselves.''

29. David Campbell

Age: 39

Mornings host, 9

''Sonia Kruger was the person most instrumental to getting me into TV journalism.

I get to interview lots of fun people. I am lucky to be in that position. It's only difficult when they don't talk back. I love watching a man like Paul Murray. He's a great mate, one of the up-and-coming stars and I like seeing mates do well.''

30. Michael Usher

Age: 42

60 Minutes Reporter, 9

''When I was a cadet a bloke rang me and said: 'My neighbour is about to kill a pig for Christmas and I am trying to save it. Will you come and help me?' So I did a 'Save the Pig' story and we saved it.

But my hardest reporting gig was the hostage siege in Beslan in Russia, which was ghastly. That was gruesome and ghastly and emotionally harrowing.''

31. Hugh Riminton

Age: 52

National political editor, 10

''I wasn't looking for a job in journalism and I was working as a hospital cleaner. I met a radio news editor by chance and he called me to see him and demanded to know why I wanted to be a journalist. I said: 'Because it would be fun'. He looked at me with real fury and said 'Fun?' And then he hired me.''

32. Michael Rowland

Age: 44

Presenter, ABC

''During the Olympics we had broadcasting restrictions ... no other station was allowed to do anything so we recreated Sally Pearson's hurdles final with LEGO.

We had a LEGO grandstand, spectators and hurdles, with a lego Sally Pearson. And we also did a lego medals ceremony. On the breakfast set.''  

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