Michael Idato
Michael Idato is culture editor-at-large for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, specialising in entertainment and culture coverage. His work is distinguished by long, personality-led features and interviews that sit alongside analytical pieces on film, television and global entertainment events. He uses celebrities, prestige series and major industry moments as entry points to wider questions about politics, power and the changing culture business.
Celebrity profiles and cover stories
Idato’s core work centres on high-profile interviews that aim to reveal how public figures think, not just what they promote.
He has written a Sunday Life cover story in which Cher talks with him about politics, longevity and her enduring connection to Australia, turning a celebrity encounter into a conversation about ageing, activism and belonging. In another feature timed to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, he returns to Cher and gives space to her warning that “we’re about to see a world collapse”, framing pop music and performance against geopolitical anxiety. His celebrated personality profile of Priscilla Presley explores life with Elvis in detail and was singled out by judges for the way it deepened readers’ understanding of its subject. He extends the same approach to other screen and stage figures: his work includes an interview with Jean Smart about fears and craft on the set of the series Hacks, and a feature with Mark Ruffalo tied to a documentary on “forever chemicals” that connects an actor’s advocacy to environmental and corporate misconduct.
The confirmed piece about a supermodel who spent two decades in a cult follows the same pattern, using a personal survival story to unpack coercive control, belief and what others can learn from that experience. Idato’s portfolio also includes profiles of figures such as Murray Bartlett and Joanna Lumley, again blending career narrative with close attention to how they see their work and the industry around them.
Streaming television and franchise analysis
Alongside interviews, Idato writes deeply reported pieces on television and streaming that focus on story, politics and industry stakes.
His analysis of the Star Wars series Andor emphasises that it strips away familiar franchise elements such as Jedi lore and lightsaber duels to foreground a more explicitly political narrative, showing his interest in how genre entertainment can carry ideological weight. A major feature on Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power concentrates on the unexplored era of Tolkien’s Middle-earth and treats the series as both a creative gamble and a corporate project, balancing plot detail with discussion of the platform’s ambitions. He has also examined the critically acclaimed HBO series White Lotus in a piece that considers its themes, structure and reception rather than simply recapping episodes.
On the more service-oriented end of his beat, he compiles guides such as a Christmas-week television column designed to help readers find the best viewing in what might otherwise be a flat programming period, showing a willingness to move between big-picture criticism and practical recommendation. His contributions to Stan-branded coverage, including interviews with Jean Smart and Mark Ruffalo alongside streaming round-ups, further underline his focus on prestige television and the business of platforms.
Oscars, Eurovision and major entertainment events
Idato regularly covers awards and large-scale entertainment events, using them to explain how the industry operates. He has reported on multiple Academy Awards ceremonies, working in the media room to interview winners as they leave the stage and contributing to live blog coverage that tracks the night as both a show and a professional gathering.
His Eurovision reporting includes pieces on Austria’s victory in a tight contest, Australia’s act Go-Jo missing out on a finals slot, and the build-up in which Sweden’s entry was framed as the song to beat, all written with a results-driven, almost sports-style tone that still notes performance and staging detail. Professional recognition for this kind of work is significant: Idato has been named Print Journalist of the Year by the Los Angeles Press Club, with judges highlighting his “astute analyses of the entertainment industry and its products” and the way his interviews increase readers’ understanding of films, series and the people behind them.
Those awards sit alongside additional wins and nominations for entertainment features and personality profiles, reinforcing the sense that his event coverage is valued for insight rather than spectacle.
News and culture reporting from entertainment centres
Although his primary focus is entertainment, Idato also files general news features from major culture hubs when events there shape the wider narrative. His coverage of Tropical Storm Hilary and its aftermath in California includes stories on Palm Springs being cut off by floodwaters, the combination of flooding, mudslides and an earthquake in a single “biblical” day of bad weather, and the eerie quiet in Los Angeles as a once-in-a-century storm approaches, all reported with close attention to conditions on the ground and local reactions. These pieces show him applying the same descriptive skills he uses in set visits and festival reporting to civic events, making clear how disruptions in those places intersect with the entertainment economy and everyday life.
Across features, interviews, guides and hard-news dispatches, Idato’s work is consistent in its interest in what popular culture reveals about power structures, politics and the human stories inside an industry often treated as pure distraction.
4 more entertainment journalists.
Abigail Flores-Johnson
Abigail Flores-Johnson covers food, beer and entertainment for the Coloradoan, with a focus on how people eat, drink and spend their free time. She reports on new restaurants and bars, closures, grocery development, local businesses and the changing dining scene. Her past coverage includes Shake Shack’s first Northern Colorado location, Los Tarascos’ closing after 31 years, national recognition for Social and La Boutique, and guides to local tacos, bars and restaurants. She also covers festivals, live music, cultural celebrations and events such as Taste of Fort Collins, FoCo Fall Fest, Juneteenth, FoCoMX and Dude Dad’s Mini Golf Open. Her reporting is practical and detail-heavy. She uses guides, lists and previews with addresses, hours, tickets, vendors, schedules and activities to help readers decide where to go and what to do.
Ailish Delaney
Ailish Delaney is a news writer at Mamamia who turns entertainment, news, crime and lifestyle stories into emotionally driven narratives that keep women at the centre. She works where hard news, pop culture and everyday life intersect, using clear reporting and vivid detail to show how events and trends land in real people’s lives. Her beat spans women-centred news, crime, safety, social affairs, entertainment and practical lifestyle advice. She profiles women making high-stakes choices, covers relationship dilemmas and revisits stories of resilience and mortality. Her entertainment work translates awards seasons, policy and self-help into everyday terms, including podcast segments and lived experiments. Drawing on experience in regional newsrooms and at 7NEWS.com.au, she reports court, crime and safety incidents with disciplined timelines and verified detail, balancing empathy, practical warnings and accessible, solutions-focused guidance.
Alexandra Del Rosario
Alexandra Del Rosario anchors fast-turn entertainment and culture coverage at the Los Angeles Times Fast Break Desk. She reports breaking news across film, television, music and online celebrity culture, with a real beat at the intersection of celebrities, courts and controversies. Her work covers legal filings, arrests, lawsuits, allegations, social media posts, ratings, casting news and personal milestones, and she also writes on video games and Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in media. She reports in clear, compact summaries that put the key facts first, then add context from a subject’s career, roles or industry trends. Before the Los Angeles Times, she covered TV ratings, casting and development at Deadline and served as an associate editor, with additional experience at The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap.
Amy Lyall
Amy Lyall combines fast-paced celebrity and reality TV coverage with first-person lifestyle and money writing across Nine’s digital platforms. She is an associate entertainment editor at Nine, setting the daily agenda for celebrity, reality formats and movie stories while also reporting. Her beat centres on celebrity relationships, rumours and personal milestones, tracking long-running speculation through to confirmed updates and public discussions of grief and loss. Reality TV is a second focus, following couples and personalities beyond the shows themselves. Alongside this she writes Spend Less, Live More, a recurring lifestyle money series for 9Honey that uses her own budgeting and household habits to show practical ways to save. Her archive also includes wellbeing and relationships pieces and explainer features on language and everyday culture, including terms, names and how people use them.