As you read today’s Crikey, Mark
Latham will be sitting opposite Andrew Denton in the main studio in the
ABC building in Ultimo explaining why he wrote his diaries and being
grilled on why he has “ratted” on his party and his “mates.” Security
is understandably tight: everybody in the audience has to show some ID
when being processed and no journalists are allowed in.

The
interview was planned to start just after midday and could run for a
couple of hours. It will go to air next Monday night and the ABC is
apparently prepared to run it as long as it can remain interesting (the
normal Denton length is 40-60 minutes).

PBL’s Bulletin magazine tried an absurd stopper article
today that was a mixture of some shrewd guesses about who might feature
in the musings of the Latham mind and some silly attempts to produce a Bridget Jones type series of entries.

Much
of the paranoia about the media is coming from Melbourne University
Press, publisher of the book, which in turn is under pressure from News
Ltd which has paid around $100,000 for media rights.

News Ltd is planning to start its publications with a story on Friday that will appear in The Australian and then be re-written for the tabloids in the chain. The Weekend Australian on Saturday will publish extracts and these will continue in the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne on Sunday, and elsewhere.

Latham has other interviews scheduled for early next week.