Geraghty was with the
Albury Border-Mail when in 1999–2000
Kosovo refugees were held at nearby
Bandiana barracks then controversially sent back by the
Australian federal government. It was the first time she had been assigned to deal "with people who had suffered and who had fled war", learning "how to build trust [with them by] spend[ing] time ... [and] explain[ing] where you're coming from". Geraghty reports that she shoots with both eyes open; "Well, physically I do. So I don't just see what's in the frame. I can hear I it. I can smell it." Covering war, she says, has changed her, and she has had to circumnavigate resistance of military officialdom, and even from the
Australian Defence Force, to do it. When in 2013, she travelled to
Uruzgan to interview the Afghanis and Matiullah Khan, the provincial chief of police the ADF attempted to "derail" the assignment, as Geraghty explains; The ADF/Australian government attempted to block us from reporting or staying in Uruzgan until Matiullah Khan stated we would be his guests...Although we had Afghan journo visas, the ADF at Tarin Kowt airbase would not let us proceed off the base from our commercial flight. It took several hours until Khan intervened.Reflecting on whether images of those killed in conflict should be published, Geraghty says, I think it's a day-to-day ethical question that the editors discuss. It depends on how graphic it is. I've never been told not to photograph a dead individual. But, you know, this is war. What the hell do they expect? I don't know if they should be shown but I don't think that we should criticise photographers for taking them. And is it only unethical or upsetting because they're Australian? Look at Haiti, the
earthquake; a cascade of dead bodies. It's hypocritical to decide that just because they're Australian, they deserve more dignity than someone from Africa or Afghanistan.Since its introduction, Geraghty has embraced the
multimedia platforms now used by her newspaper as a vehicle in which she has "complete control of the story being told", being able, alongside a trusted journalist, to edit and provide audio and visuals unencumbered. ==Recognition==