Liz Jackson

Liz Jackson (born 1951) is an Australian journalist and former barrister noted for her work on the Four Corners and Media Watch television programs.

Career

Jackson grew up in Melbourne, Australia and commenced work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1986. Prior to her career with the ABC, Jackson also worked in a community legal centre in Australia and practiced law in London as a barrister at Gray's Inn. Jackson returned to Australia and worked for the NSW Premier's Department, in the Women's Coordination Unit, dealing with laws to protect women from violence.^[1]

After joining Four Corners as an investigative reporter in 1994, Jackson has been awarded Walkley Awards, Australia's awards for journalism, on five occasions for her work on the following:

• The situation in Somalia;
• The suicide of Aboriginal activist Rob Riley;
• "Fixing Cricket", a report about cricket match-fixing (2000);
• "Go to jail", regarding the Northern Territory's mandatory sentencing laws (2000); and,
• "Putting the Children at Risk", an investigation into the New South Wales Government Department of Community Services (2002).^[2]

Jackson has also received three Logie Awards (the Australian equivalent of an Emmy award) for "Fixing Cricket" and stories related to the Blackhawk disaster and HIV transmission from a doctor's surgery.^[2]

At the start of 2005, Jackson hosted the media-criticism program Media Watch, before stepping down in December 2005 and returning to Four Corners; journalist Monica Attard was announced as her replacement.^[3]

Personal life

Her daughter, Rose Jackson, is a student politician aligned with the National Labor Students faction and sits on the executive of the New South Wales Labor Party.

In November 2016, Jackson revealed she had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014, with the release of a documentary called "A Sense of Self" broadcast as an episode of Four Corners.^[4]

References

1. Liz Jackson: One of Australia's finest journalists; abc.net.au
2. Biography of Liz Jackson, Four Corners website, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accessed 11 July 2007.
3. "Attard fronts Media Watch". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 December 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
4. A Sense Of Self, Four Corners, 21 November 2016.