John E. Webb was educated at schools in Victoria and finished his formal education at the age of thirteen. After working in an office for four years, he travelled to Western Australia where he started work as an assistant proof-reader and then cub-reporter for the Kalgoorlie Miner. In June 1903, he moved to Perth and joined the Sunday Times. Two years later, aged 23, he was successfully editing the paper to the extent that it doubled its sales within six years.
An offer from The Bulletin which almost doubled his Sunday Times salary took him to Sydney in 1920. He became editor of The Bulletin in 1933 and remained at its editorial helm until his retirement fifteen years later.
Webb understood the art of journalism as: 'persuading the public that you know what you're writing about when you don't'. (A. G. Stephens (ed.), 'Australasian Autobiographies', vol. 2.)
