Hamish Macdonald (broadcaster)

Hamish Macdonald
Born (1981-05-17) 17 May 1981
Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality Australian
Occupation Broadcast journalist, ABC News international affairs correspondent
Television The Project

Hamish Macdonald (born 17 May 1981) is an Australian broadcast journalist and news presenter.

Macdonald has previously worked at networks including Channel 4, ITV, Al Jazeera English and Network Ten.

Career

Upon earning a journalism degree from Charles Sturt University in 2002,[1] Macdonald began a short stint as a reporter covering politics in Canberra with regional broadcaster WIN. He moved to the United Kingdom, where he reported for Channel 4 and ITV.[2]

In the UK's Channel 4 News, Macdonald built a career as a news producer and reporter. He covered major stories including the Asian tsunami and the London bombings. He reported live for Channel 4 and ITV news. He also reported as an eyewitness for Australian Networks Nine, Seven, and ABC.[3]

Al Jazeera English

In early 2006, Hamish worked as a producer for Al Jazeera English's regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Al Jazeera English is the English-language sister channel of the Arabic network Al Jazeera. In the summer of 2006, he was hired as a news presenter at the Kuala Lumpur bureau of Al Jazeera English.

Macdonald won the "Young Journalist of the Year" award at the Royal Television Society awards in London, on 20 February 2008.[4]

Hamish later moved to Al Jazeera's London bureau, during which time he also acted as the UK correspondent for the Australian breakfast programme Sunrise. He left Al Jazeera English in June 2010.

Network Ten

In November 2010, Australia's Network Ten announced that Macdonald would report for 6.30 with George Negus as a senior foreign correspondent and fill-in presenter.

Macdonald has been a fill-in presenter for Ten News and guest panelist and fill-in presenter on The Project. In June 2012, Macdonald was appointed host of a revived Ten Late News. In 2013, he hosted current affairs series The Truth Is.

Macdonald was widely criticised for posting a photo of himself, Magdalena Roze, Hermione Kitson and Sandra Sully on Twitter holding champagne and celebrating at the GQ Man of the Year awards the same day 100 Ten employees had been axed. Chris Reason of the Seven Network, whose wife, Kathryn Robinson was one of those axed responded to the Tweet "Congrats, but are these champagne days? 100 mates out of work."

Macdonald announced he would be leaving Network Ten in September 2013. Rumours surfaced the network was underwhelmed with MacDonald's The Truth Is series and MacDonald was upset Ten had not shown greater support for his work.[4]

In 2017, Macdonald regularly hosted The Sunday Project and was later appointed permanent host in January 2018. He is also a regular fill in for Waleed Aly on The Project.

ABC Television Network

On 6 January 2014, Macdonald joined the ABC Television Network in the US in a senior role as an international affairs correspondent for the network. Despite being contracted to Network Ten in Australia until March 2014, MacDonald gained an early release from the network who supported his new appointment. He will initially be based in New York City but will move to London later in 2014. His new contract reportedly allows him to accept limited outside work with other organisations in certain circumstances.[5]

Personal life

Macdonald shares a media pedigree with his siblings. His older brother Rory is a producer and reporter with ABC Radio Sydney, while his older sister Kari Keenan is a producer for 2UE.[2] MacDonald lives in Sydney.

References

  1. ↑ Hamish MacDonald Wins Young Journalist of the Year Award Charles Sturt University
  2. 1 2 The Al Jazeera Aussies Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2006
  3. ↑ "News Anchors". Al Jazeera English. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-05-30.
  4. 1 2 Idato, Michael (2013-09-16). "The truth is ... I'm leaving: Hamish Macdonald quits". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2013-09-16.
  5. ↑ Idato, Michael (3 January 2014). "Former Channel Ten correspondent Hamish Macdonald signs with US network ABC". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
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