Ross Coulthart

Last updated
Ross Coulthart
Ross Coulthart (cropped).jpg
Coulthart in 2012
CitizenshipAustralian
Education Victoria University of Wellington
Website
www.rosscoulthart.com

Ross Coulthart is an Australian investigative journalist, author, and documentary producer. As of 2023, he is the senior special investigations correspondent for NewsNation. He believes that governments have covered up knowledge of extraterrestrial spacecraft and is an advocate for UFO disclosure . [1]

Contents

Ross Coulthart at Mosman Library, Australia in 2012 Ross Coulthart, December 2012.jpg
Ross Coulthart at Mosman Library, Australia in 2012

Early life

Coulthart was born in the United Kingdom and later moved with his family to New Zealand. He graduated with a law degree from the Victoria University of Wellington and he joined the New Zealand Herald newspaper as a journalist in 1982. [2]

Career

From 1989-1992 Ross worked for the Mike Willesee and Jana Wendt-hosted A Current Affair public affairs program on the Australian Nine TV Network, where his investigative journalism won a Penguin Award for revealing how Qld businessman Sir Leslie Thiess paid bribes to Qld Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. [3] [4]

In 1992, Ross Coulthart joined Four Corners, a public affairs program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. One of his investigations focused on corruption within the professional football industry in Australia. The report contributed to the establishment of the Soccer Royal Commission of Inquiry, which led to regulatory changes concerning player transfer fees for Australian players moving to overseas clubs. [5]

On a 1994 episode of the Australian TV program Four Corners , Coulthart broadcast an allegation that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service "secretly holds tens of thousands of files on Australian citizens, a database completely outside privacy laws". [6] Coulthart's allegations prompted the Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans to call a "root and branch" review of the ASIS led by Justice Gordon Samuels and Mike Codd. In their Report on the Australian Secret Intelligence Service released in 1995, Coulthart's allegation was investigated and denied by Samuels and Codd, [7] :xxiii but Evans did acknowledge that "ASIS does have some files, as one would expect in an organisation of that nature, even though its brief extends to activities outside the country rather than inside. They are essentially of an administrative nature." [8] While Samuels and Codd did find that certain grievances of former ASIS officers were well founded, [7] :xxxi they observed that the information published in the Four Corners program was "skewed towards the false", [7] :xx that "the level of factual accuracy about operational matters was not high", [7] :xxiii and, quoting an aphorism, that "what was disturbing was not true and what was true was not disturbing". [7] :xxiii They concluded that the disclosure of the information was unnecessary and unjustifiable and had damaged the reputation of ASIS and Australia overseas. [7] :xx

In 1995, Ross Coulthart joined the Sunday public affairs program on Australia’s Nine Network, where he worked for 14 years on various investigative reports. A 1996 investigation into the operations of CARE Australia highlighted issues related to the use of government funding by charitable organizations, leading to reforms within Australia’s AusAid agency. In the same year, his report The Prisoners Who Waited, which examined corruption in government-funded Aboriginal legal services, received the 1996 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs. He also received the inaugural Law Council of Australia’s Law Journalist Award for his piece The Justice System on Trial, which explored aspects of the Australian legal system. [9] [10]

In 2002, Coulthart, together with renowned filmmaker Max Stahl, conducted an investigative report into crimes committed during the East Timor conflict, identifying members of the Indonesian military and militia who had gone unpunished for abuses against civilians. The investigation won the Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival for Best International Report. [11]

In 2006, Ross Coulthart’s investigative story Black & White Justice (for the Sunday program) examined hit‑and‑run deaths of Aboriginal individuals in Townsville. The reporting presented strong evidence suggesting that at least one victim—Errol Wyles—may have died in a racially motivated incident that could amount to homicide under criminal law. [12]

In 2007, Dead Man Running, his investigation into outlaw motorcycle gang organised crime, revealed how (at a time when police were asserting there was no evidence of links between bikie gangs and organised crime) the gangs were deeply implicated in extensive illicit drug dealing across Australia. [13]

In 2008, Coulthart wrote about an Australian medical scandal entitled The Butcher of Bega. [14]

Coulthart’s book on outlaw motorcycle gang organised crime, Dead Man Running, co-authored with Duncan McNab, was published in 2009. [13]

In 2010, he reinvestigated the murder of two young Australian tourists by IRA terrorists 20 years earlier. [15]

In 2014, Coulthart worked as chief investigations reporter for Channel 7's Sunday Night news program, but resigned after he reportedly "stepped in to break up a physical fight" between two producers. [16] Coulthart worked as an investigative journalist for Australian news and current affairs program 60 Minutes on Channel Nine, but left in 2018 after his contract was not renewed. [17]

In 2018, Coulthart was employed by a public relations firm, where he managed the public relations for ex-soldier and accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith, [18] who in 2023 was found by Justice Anthony Besanko to have participated in the murder of four Afghans. [19]

UFOs

After leaving the PR firm Coulthart returned to reporting, focusing mainly on UFOs.

In 2021, Coulthart starred in The UFO Phenomenon, a special television series for Seven News in Australia that claimed to "unearth startling new evidence of UFOs from government officials and eyewitnesses that will change everything you thought you knew about the universe." [20] That same year, Coulthart authored a book titled In Plain Sight: An Investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science. Author Pippa Goldschmidt said "Coulthart provides a balanced historical and global summary of UFO sightings ... Fatally for his argument, however, he shows signs of wanting to believe it." [21] Author Jason Colavito reviewed Coulthart's book, saying it was "less a serious analysis and more of a book report on the last works of the leaders of the faith". [22] According to The Sydney Morning Herald , the book made Coulthart something of a cult hero in American UFO circles. [23] Maariv noted in 2023 that the book had received global media attention. [24]

In 2022, Coulthart and co-host Bryce Zabel began hosting Need To Know, a UFOlogy podcast promoted as "revealing the mysteries of the universe to the people of the earth". [25] [26]

In June 2023, Coulthart conducted an interview for NewsNation with USAF officer David Grusch and joined Grusch in alleging that the U.S. federal government maintains a highly secretive UFO retrieval program and is in possession of both extraterrestrial spacecraft and the corpses of non-human pilots. [27] In August 2023, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's program Media Watch questioned the lack of evidence for Coulthart's claims that the United States government had covered up knowledge of aliens and the retrieval of alien spacecraft. [28] In December 2023, Australian Skeptics announced that Coulthart was their 2023 Bent Spoon Award winner for his uncritical journalism concerning his belief that governments are covering up "'wreckage of downed extraterrestrial spacecraft and the bodies of their pilots.'" [29]

In November 2023, NewsNation announced it had signed Coulthart as a special projects correspondent. [30] His first project with the network, "Unsolved: The JFK Assassination", [31] was released during the week of the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. [32]

In January 2025, Coulthart conducted a televised interview with former U.S. intelligence operative Jake Barber on Reality Check. In the interview, Barber claimed to have firsthand knowledge of a covert program involving the retrieval of non-human intelligence (NHI) technology, allegedly conducted by elements of the U.S. military and intelligence community in collaboration with private aerospace contractors. Barber, who described himself as a former elite military operative operating under "non-official cover" (NOC) status, alleged that he had personally participated in the recovery of unidentified craft at a classified government location. These claims have not been independently verified and remain unconfirmed by official sources. [33]

Awards and honors

Books

References

  1. "World UFO Day: Ross Coulthart renews calls for public disclosure". Yahoo.com. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  2. May 27, Norma french; Am, 2017 at 12:41. "» Ross Coulthart, author of The Lost Diggers, answers Ten Terrifying QuestionsThe Booktopian" . Retrieved 2023-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. "Council told 'pick Thiess' - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) - 16 feb. 1991". Trove. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  4. "The History of Investigative Journalism in Australia" . Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  5. "MlNORiTY FIRST REPORT BY GOVERN ENT SENATORS" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  6. Statement by Ross Coulthart in Four Corners program of 21 February 1994
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Samuels, Gordon J.; Codd, Michael H. (1995). Commission of Inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Report on the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (PDF) (Public ed.). Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN   0-644-43201-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  8. The Minister said: "ASIS does have some files, as one would expect in an organisation of that nature, even though its brief extends to activities outside the country rather than inside. They are essentially of an administrative nature": Senator Gareth Evans, Answer to Question Without Notice, Senate, Debates, 22 February 1994, p. 859
  9. "Australian Legal Convention" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  10. "Ross Coulthart". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  11. "Back to the source" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  12. "Black and white justice". Archived from the original on 2006-04-29. Retrieved 2006-04-30.
  13. 1 2 "Dead Man Running - Ross Coulthart and Duncan McNab". Allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  14. "Sunday journos win Gold Walkley". TV Tonight. David Knox. 28 November 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  15. "Australians died to protect informers - claim". republican-news.org. Republican News. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  16. "Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart quits Channel 7's Sunday Night program after newsroom punch-up". dailytelegraph.com.au. Annette Sharp. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  17. "Ross Coulthart departs 60 Minutes". smh.com.au. Broede Carmody. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  18. "Ep 27 - Fairfax v Ben Roberts-Smith". Media Watch. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  19. Doherty, Ben (2023-06-01). "Ben Roberts-Smith loses defamation case, with judge finding former SAS soldier committed war crimes". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  20. "7NEWS Spotlight special The UFO Phenomenon reveals the truth about UFOs". 7news.au. t News Australia. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  21. Goldschmidt, Pippa (5 November 2021). "The search for evidence of extraterrestrial sightings". The Times Literary Supplement . Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  22. Colavito, Jason. "Review of "In Plain Sight" by Ross Coulthart". jasoncolavito.com. Jason Colavito. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  23. Napier-Raman, Kishor; Mannix, Liam (24 August 2023). "Ben Roberts-Smith backer Ross Coulthart now a leading UFO truther". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  24. "Journalist predicts UFO truth to surface, revealing stunning secrets". Maariv . 3 October 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2024 via The Jerusalem Post.
  25. Couthart, Ross. "ROSS COULTHART AND BRYCE ZABEL INVESTIGATE THE UFO/UAP MYSTERY". needtoknow.com. Need to Know with Coulthart and Zabel. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  26. "Ross Coulthart, One of the World's Leading UAP Journalists, and Bryce Zabel, Producer of Dark Skies, Join Remarkable Speaker Lineup at Contact In The Desert 2025". shootonline.com. Shootonline. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  27. Gipson, Andy; Sancho, Miguel; Lake, Zoë; Leavitt, Dana; Coulthart, Ross (2023-06-11). "We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks". NewsNation. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  28. "Ep 30 - The truth is out there". Media Watch. 2023-08-28. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  29. Towell, Noel (December 4, 2023). "Journalism heavyweight's alien truth is right out there, say Skeptics". The Age.
  30. Mastrangelo, Dominick. "NewsNation signs Ross Coulthart as special correspondent". The Hill via MSN. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  31. "Ross Coulthart Joins NewsNation as Special Correspondent and Investigative Journalist". www.adweek.com. 2023-11-14. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  32. "Unsolved: The JFK Assassination | A NewsNation Special Report". NewsNation. 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  33. "UFO whistleblower Jake Barber would '100% testify' under oath to Congress".
  34. 1 2 3 "Ross Coulthart". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists . Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  35. "Ross Coulthart joins Seven". TV Tonight. David Knox. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  36. Knox, David (28 November 2008). "Sunday journos win Gold Walkley". TV Tonight. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  37. "Fairfax reporters shine as Journalism's best honoured". smh.com.au. Fairfax Media. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
  38. "Ross Coulthart". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 2023-06-07.