• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE2879

Jackson, Liz

(1951 – 2018)
  • Born 1951
  • Died 2018, Greece
  • Occupation Bureaucrat, Journalist, Lawyer, Television Journalist

Summary

Liz Jackson was a multi-award winning journalist who came relatively late to the profession. After working as a lawyer, and then as a ‘femocrat’ in the New South Wales Public Service, at the age of thirty-three she turned her hand to journalism. In 2005 she became the first female host of ABC Television’s Media Watch program. She left the ABC in 2013.

Jackson passed away in 2018, having struggled with Parkinson’s Disease since she was diagnosed in 2014.

Details

Liz Jackson grew up in Parkville, near the University of Melbourne. In the 1970s, after completing an arts degree, she travelled to London where she studied to be a barrister. On her return to Australia she worked for the New South Wales Government.

It was during this time that Liz Jackson moved into a home full of journalists, eventually shifting into journalism herself. ‘My life as a public servant seemed a lot less interesting than theirs as journalists,’ she said. ‘No one seemed to want to know what I did that day.’

Jackson joined the ABC in 1987. After spending seven years in radio, at Radio National and 2JJJ, she joined Four Corners as a reporter. In 2005 she became host of Media Watch and was also known for her work on 4 Corners.

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Events

  • 1993

    Best International Report, ‘Somalia. Dying for Relief’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

    Walkley Award (All Media)
  • 1996

    Best Application of the Television Medium to Journalism, ‘Telling His Story’ Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Ashley Smith)

    Walkley Award (Television)
  • 2000

    Coverage of Indigenous Affairs, ‘Go to Jail’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (with Lin Buckfield)

    Walkley Award (All Media)
  • 2000

    Coverage of Sport, ‘Fixing Cricket’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (with Lin Buckfield & Peter Cronau)

    Walkley Award (All Media)
  • 2002

    Social Equity Journalism (Highly Commended), ‘Putting The Children At Risk’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Morag Ramsay & Jo Puccini)

    Walkley Award (All Media)
  • 2006

    Coverage of the Asia-Pacific Region, ‘Stoking the Fires’, 4 Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Lin Buckfield)

    Walkley Award (All Media)
  • 1985
  • 2006

    Stoking the Fires’, 4 Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Lin Buckfield and Peter Cronau)

    Walkley Award (Gold Walkley)
  • 2017

    A Sense of Self’ – ABC TV (with Martin Butler, Bentley Dean and Tania Nehme)

    Walkley Award (Documentary)

Published resources

Related entries


  • Awarded
    • Walkley Awards (1956 - )