Linton Besser is an Australian journalist, who has won multiple awards for investigative reporting. He is to be the host of Media Watch from 2025.
In 2003, Besser began his media career as a producer for morning TV program Today . Then, after a stint at rural and regional papers, he moved to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007. [1] While there, he won a 2010 Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism for his story "The Wrong Stuff", on misspending by the Department of Defence; [2] and (with Kate McClymont) a Walkley [3] and a George Munster Award for the 2012 investigative series "The Obeid family business", [4] followed by a 2013 Kennedy Award for Scoop of the Year. [5] The pair released the best-selling book He Who must Be Obeid in 2014; its first print run was pulped due to incorrectly identifying one person as another. [6] The book was a finalist at the 2015 Ned Kelly Awards. [7]
Having moved to the ABC in 2013, he reported for Four Corners between 2014 and 2018. [1] During his tenure, he won a second Kennedy Award in 2014 for Outstanding Consumer Affairs Reporting with Janine Cohen and Mario Christodoulou, [8] and a 2016 Walkley Television/Audio Visual Current Affairs Award for "State of Fear", along with cinematographer Louie Eroglu, producer Jaya Balendra and researcher Elise Worthington. [9] During that investigation, Besser and Eroglu were arrested in Malaysia for trying to question Prime Minister Najib Razak over the 1MDB scandal, but were released without charge several days later. [10] [11]
From 2018 until 2021 he was the ABC's Europe Correspondent, after which he returned to providing investigative reporting for ABC News including programs 7.30 , AM, and Four Corners. [1] He won a fourth Walkley, for Business Journalism with Ninah Kopel for reports on problems with the strata management industry. [12]
From 2025 he is to be the host of the ABC's Media Watch program. [13]
Besser's parents are Anne and Mike Besser. They are Jewish. [14] He was educated at Moriah College. [15] As of 2013 [update] , he was married with two children. [16]
The Gold Walkley is the major award of the Walkley Awards for Australian journalism. It is chosen by the Walkley Advisory Board from the winners of all the other categories. It has been awarded annually since 1978.
Media Watch is an television programme from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) dedicated to the analysis and critique of Australian media, including its corporate and political interconnections. The program's most recent host is Paul Barry, with Linton Besser due to begin hosting in February 2025.
Donald William Burke is an Australian television presenter, television producer, author and horticulturist. He is best known as the longtime host of Burke's Backyard, a lifestyle program produced by his wife's company CTC Productions, which ran for 17 years from 1987 to late 2004 on the Nine Network. He was also responsible for the creation of garden makeover program Backyard Blitz, starring former colleague Jamie Durie.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is an integrity agency of the Government of New South Wales responsible for eliminating and investigating corrupt activities and enhancing the integrity of the state's public administration. The commission was established in 1989, pursuant to the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act, 1988 (NSW), modeled after the ICAC in Hong Kong.
Joseph Guerino Tripodi is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Fairfield for the Labor Party between 1995 and 2011. He was Minister for Finance, Infrastructure, Regulatory Reform, Ports and Waterways under former Premier Nathan Rees. He was a controversial figure during his time in politics, known as a factional boss, within the NSW Labor Right whose Terrigals sub-faction has twice dumped the sitting Labor Premier during 2007 and 2009. On 11 November 2010, he announced his decision to not contest the 2011 state election.
Stuart Littlemore KC is an Australian barrister and former journalist and television presenter. He created ABC Television's long-running Media Watch program, which he hosted from its inception in 1989 to 1997.
Ian Michael Macdonald is a former Australian politician and currently undergoing court proceedings and was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1988 to 2010 representing the Labor Party. Between 2003 and 2010, Macdonald held a range of ministerial responsibilities in the Carr, Iemma, Rees, and Keneally ministries. Macdonald, who joined the Labor Party in 1972, had his membership of the party terminated in 2013 for bringing the party into disrepute.
Eric Michael Roozendaal, a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, serving between 2004 and 2013. He is a former General Secretary of the Labor Party. Roozendaal was the Treasurer of New South Wales, Minister of State and Regional Development, Minister of Ports and Waterways, Minister for the Illawarra, and Special Minister of State in the Rees and Keneally governments.
Tracey Leigh Spicer is an Australian newsreader, Walkley Award-winning journalist and social justice advocate. She is known for her association with Network Ten as a newsreader in the 1990s and 2000s when she co-hosted Ten Eyewitness News in Brisbane, Queensland. She later went on to work with Sky News Australia as a reporter and presenter from 2007 to 2015. In May 2017 Spicer released her autobiography, The Good Girl Stripped Bare. She was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia "For significant service to the broadcast media as a journalist and television presenter, and as an ambassador for social welfare and charitable groups".
Edward Moses Obeid is a retired Australian politician and convicted criminal, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1991 and 2011, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Fisheries and the Minister for Mineral Resources from 1999–2003. Prior to the March 2015 expiry of his term in the Legislative Council, Obeid announced his decision to retire early on 10 May 2011, citing family reasons.
The New South Wales Crime Commission is a statutory corporation of the Government of New South Wales. It is constituted by the Crime Commission Act 2012, the object of which is to reduce the incidence of organised crime and other serious crime in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
Anne Davies is a former Washington correspondent for Australian newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and investigative journalist with The Guardian.
Hedley Thomas is an Australian investigative journalist and author, who has won eight Walkley Awards, two of which are Gold Walkleys.
Mark Willacy is an Australian investigative journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). He, along with ABC Investigations-Four Corners team, won the 2020 Gold Walkley for their special report Killing Field, which covered alleged Australian war crimes. He has been awarded six other Walkley awards and two Queensland Clarion Awards for Queensland Journalist of the Year. Willacy is currently based in Brisbane, and was previously a correspondent in the Middle East and North Asia. He is the author of three books. In 2023, Willacy was found to have defamed Heston Russell, a former special forces commander, after making unproven allegations of war crimes.
Nick McKenzie is an Australian investigative journalist. He has won 14 Walkley Awards, been twice named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and also received the Kennedy Award for Journalist of the Year in 2020 and 2022. He is the president of the Melbourne Press Club.
Kathryn Anne McClymont is a journalist who writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. Notable for exposing corruption in politics, trade unions, sport, and horse racing, she has received death threats because of her exposés. She has won many awards for her reporting, including the 2002 Gold Walkley Award for her work on the Canterbury Bulldogs salary cap breaches. She is best known for her series of articles and book about New South Wales Labor Party politician Eddie Obeid.
Sharri Markson is an Australian journalist and author. She is investigations editor at The Australian and host of the Sky News Australia program Sharri, which airs 8-9pm Monday - Thursday. She is the winner of numerous awards in journalism, including two Walkley Awards.
Caro Meldrum-Hanna is an Australian investigative journalist.
John Lyons is an Australian journalist. As of August 2024 Lyons is global affairs editor at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Kennedy Awards, also formerly known as the NRMA Kennedy Awards, are Australian awards for journalism based in Sydney, New South Wales, run by the Kennedy Foundation, and named in honour of Indigenous Australian journalist Les Kennedy, who died in 2011. As of 2022 there are 34 categories in the annual event, with the main prize being The Kennedy Prize – Journalist of the Year, while a Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded each year as well.
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