- Linton Besser will host Media Watch in 2025
- Paul Barry will step down on December 2, 2024
The ABC has announced that award-winning investigative journalist Linton Besser will replace Paul Barry as host of Media Watch from 2025.
Barry announced in June that he would be leaving the broadcaster with December 2 as his last date as presenter of the popular programme.
Besser is a four-time Walkley Award winner and said he was excited to take over.
“I am happy and down to earth to have the opportunity to present this important television program and I hope to continue the great tradition,” he said.
‘The media is big business and enormously influential. Her mission may be to hold others accountable, but she too deserves the blowtorch.
‘For years, citizens have described to me a fundamental distrust of the media. They lump us together, the good and the bad.
“Rather than despair over this uncomfortable reality, I’m going to try to do something about it in my own small way.
‘Media Watch remains Australia’s best public guard against bad press behaviour.’
The ABC has announced that investigative journalist Linton Besser will replace Paul Barry as chief executive of Media Watch from 2025
Chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor praised the decision to replace Barry with Besser.
“Linton is an award-winning and hugely talented journalist who brings decades of experience – and undoubtedly great flair and style – to this key position,” he said.
“Media Watch plays a unique role in the interests of the public and its mission has remained unchanged throughout its incredible 35-year history.
“Every week, the most powerful media industries and personalities in the media industry are being held to account with uncompromising scrutiny.
‘In an increasingly fragmented and tech-savvy media landscape, this has never been more important.’
Besser has fulfilled several roles at the national broadcaster and reported for the programs 7.30, Foreign Correspondent and Vier Hoeken.
He was also Europe correspondent for the ABC.
Besser is a fixture in the journalism industry, having worked as a producer for Nine Entertainment and as a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Besser is a four-time Walkley Award winner and said he was excited to take over
His work has earned him praise from his peers and Besser is the recipient of a George Munster Award – an honor that commemorates independent journalism.
He has also received two Kennedy Awards.
there is more to come