Tory Shepherd is an Australian opinion writer and journalist based in Adelaide, South Australia. as of September 2024 [update] a senior reporter for Guardian Australia . She has worked for News Corp Australia publications in the past.
Tory Shepherd grew up in Adelaide. She did an arts degree after school, and then spent a year backpacking around Australia. Returning to Adelaide, she did an honours degree in anthropology, [1] writing her thesis on UFO cults. [2]
After backpacking around Europe for two years, she returned to her home town and managed a national visual arts magazine. [1] In 2004 she wrote an article for Artlink in 2004. [3]
She then gained a Master of Arts degree in Professional Communication. [2]
Shepherd joined News Limited in 2006, starting with a cadetship at The Advertiser [4] [1] and spending 15 years there and other News Corp publications as a full-time journalist. She became federal political editor, living in both Canberra and Adelaide, and was later space and defence reporter for The Advertiser. [2] She spent a number of years as health reporter at The Advertiser (around 2009), and in 2015 was a columnist at the paper. [5]
She has written for various News Limited media publications and websites, [5] [2] including being a columnist and sometime editor at The Punch . [5] [6]
As of September 2024 [update] she is a senior reporter for Guardian Australia . [7]
Shepherd has appeared as panellist on the ABC TV discussion program Insiders , [8] as well as ABC Radio and other television shows, including The Drum on ABC and Sunrise on the Seven Network. [2]
She appeared in episode 6 of The Chaser's Media Circus in 2014. Shepherd has been a panellist at a number of events in the Behind the Headlines series of public forums, hosted by Paul Willis at the Royal Institution of Australia, [9]
Shepherd was a member of the Mindframe media advisory group. [5]
In 2021–22 she co-hosted the true crime podcast Mapping Evil with crime investigator Mike King. [2] [10]
In 2020 Shepherd published a book, On Freedom, which "looks at how women's freedom to choose motherhood is reshaping their own lives as well as society". [11] [12]
Shepherd has been awarded Churchill Fellowship, and has been on the judging panel for the Walkley Awards. [2]
In 2010, she won Best Columnist, Blogger, Commentator, in the SA Press Club awards. [13]