Renowned US editor and Centre for Investigative Reporting executive director Robert Rosenthal delivered a free public lecture at Monash University on Tuesday 20 September, 2011.

His speech covered how he got his start in journalism as a copy boy at The New York Times, his role in the paper's Pentagon Papers scoop and the trajectory his career took until he accepted the Centre for Investigative Reporting executive editor role in 2008.

While Rosenthal was in Melbourne, we caught up with him to talk about non-profit funding models for investigative journalism, his impressions of the media in Australia and the importance of investigative reporting.