The memorial will be a black granite occulus, or eye, representing the lens of a camera or eye of a journalist observing military actions.

After eight years of planning, the board driving the project hopes to have it completed in time for the centenary in 1915 of the landing at Gallipoli.

The pitch for money was put directly to senior media executives at the Parliamentary Mid-Winter Ball on Wednesday. They were told the War Correspondents' Memorial will commemorate the commitment of journalists, photographers, artists and film and sound crews whose courage brought news of Australia's participation in war to an audience at home.

The team behind the project believes it is the primary obligation of media companies to support the memorial fund but they have also received offers of support from organisations in other sectors.

The CEW Bean Foundation is seeking $1 million for the project.

The memorial will be dedicated to past generations of correspondents, and to others who follow them in conveying the realities of war.

To be placed on a rise at the far end of the sculpture garden within the Australian War Memorial precinct, the commemorative site will have views across the western courtyard to the Hall of Memory dome.

Inspiration for the memorial and naming of the foundation comes from Charles Bean, chronicler of Gallipoli and the Western Front, author of the first six volumes of the World War I histories and inspiration for the War Memorial.

Foundation treasurer Mark Riley from the Seven Network said it was hoped to hold the dedication of the memorial in 2015. ''We think it is appropriate that the role of journalism as a first draft of history is recognised,'' he said on Friday.

''Our foundation is based on the traditions of Charles Bean and his contemporaries like Sir Keith Murdoch and all those journalists who have reported conflict for an Australian audience from the Boer War to the present.

''Around 26 journalists have been killed in the battlefield covering war and we think it's appropriate that their efforts and their memory be recognised in that beautiful, emotional precinct at the War Memorial, alongside the military but separate to them, as is our role on the battlefield as observers.

''[The memorial] will be in a landscape setting in the sculpture garden so that people who go there to reflect can look into the oculus and see the reflection of the dome of the War Memorial and the surrounds.

''It's quite a striking feature and I think it will become quite a landmark on the Canberra landscape.''