Marian Wilkinson
Marian Wilkinson is an Australian journalist and author. She has won two Walkley Awards, and was the first female executive producer of Four Corners.[1] She has been a deputy editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, a Washington correspondent for The National Times, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as a senior reporter for The Australian.[2]As of April 2017[update], she is a senior reporter at Four Corners.[3]
Early life
[edit]She was born in 1954 and grew up in Brisbane, Queensland where she attended the University of Queensland.[4] In 1975, she was a cofounder of community radio station 4ZZZ-FM.
"I grew up quite some time ago in Queensland when it was run by what was later found to be an incredibly corrupt government -- the government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen," she told journalism students in 2015.[5] "I think my interest in journalism stemmed from there because I had set up a student radio station, and set up a newsroom. We were actually trying to as young students go and look at things like police corruption, go and look at things like political corruption, which was rife already in the state. I think that desire to actually expose wrong-doing really motivated me."
Career
[edit]In the 1980s, Wilkinson joined the staff of the National Times, which was edited by Brian Toohey and saw her work alongside reporters like David Marr, Colleen Ryan and Wendy Bacon.[6] The paper at the time had a heavy investigative focus, particularly with regards to politics and crime.[7] Wilkinson became the National Times' Washington Correspondent, and from there joined the ABC, where she started working on the network's flagship current affairs program. Four Corners.
In 1989, True Believers, a report done with Monica Attard on the dumping of federal Liberal leader John Howard by the Liberal Party in favour of Andrew Peacock, won both a Walkley and a Logie. Later that year, she joined The Sydney Morning Herald,[8] though she rejoined Four Corners less than a year later in the role of executive producer.[9]
In 1995, Wilkinson was a reporter for The Australian.[10] By 2000, she was a senior editor at Fairfax's Sydney Morning Herald. In 2002, she moved back to writing duties, being appointed the Washington correspondent for the paper, also filing for sister title The Age.[11] She returned to Sydney in 2005, becoming the Sydney Morning Herald's national security editor.[12] In 2009, when the paper's environment editor, she won the Eureka Prize for Environmental Journalism for The Tipping Point, a report on the melting of the arctic sea ice.[13]
In 2010, Wilkinson rejoined Four Corners.[3] In 2016, she was nominated for a Walkley Award for her work as the ABC's lead reporter on the Panama Papers.[14] Her 2020 book, The Carbon Club, was longlisted for the 2021 Walkley Book Award.[15]
She is the aunt of Cassandra Wilkinson who is a co-founder of FBi FM Sydney.
Works
[edit]Books
[edit]- The Book Of Leaks (with Brian Toohey) 1987 ISBN 9780207155086
- The Fixer: the untold story of Graham Richardson 1996 ISBN 9780855616854
- Dark Victory (with David Marr) 2003 ISBN 9781741144475[4]
- The Carbon Club ISBN 9781760875992
TV
[edit]- The Tipping Point report for Four Corners
References
[edit]- ^ Meade, Amanda (26 July 2007). "The Diary". The Australian – via Factiva.
- ^ Henningham, Nikki (5 September 2012). "Wilkinson, Marian (1954 - )". The Australian Women's Register. The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW). Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Marian Wilkinson". Four Corners. ABC. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Wilkinson, Marian (1954-)", Trove, 2008, retrieved 5 January 2012
- ^ Hannah Black (9 April 2015), Understanding Communication Assignment 1, retrieved 19 November 2016
- ^ "History's headliners". The Australian. 9 December 1999 – via Factiva.
- ^ Pilger, John (2011). Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and its Triumphs. Random House. p. 174. ISBN 978-1407085708.
- ^ Lee Lewes, Jacqueline (4 December 1989). "The Guide, ANTENNAE". Sydney Morning Herald – via Factiva.
- ^ Lee Lewes, Jacqueline (20 August 1990). "The Guide - ANTENNAE". Sydney Morning Herald – via Factiva.
- ^ Stewart, Cameron (27 June 2007). "Silencing our basic freedom". The Australia – via Factiva.
- ^ Jackson, Sally (22 April 2004). "The Age searches for new editor". The Australian – via Factiva.
- ^ Eisenhuth, Susie (2007). The Writer's Reader: Understanding Journalism and Non-Fiction. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0521700337.
- ^ Smith, Deborah. "Eureka moment for Herald journalist". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ "Fairfax dominates Walkley business awards". Australian Financial Review. 19 October 2016 – via Factiva.
- ^ "2021 Walkley Book Award longlist announced". The Walkley Foundation. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
External links
[edit]- Review of Dark Victory