Hamish Macdonald (broadcaster)
Hamish Macdonald | |
|---|---|
 Macdonald at the TV Week Logie Awards Nominations in Sydney, Australia, in March 2012 | |
| Born | 18 May 1981 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Broadcast journalist, international affairs correspondent |
| Years active | 2003−present |
| Employer | Network 10 |
| Television | The Project |
| Partner(s) | Jacob Fitzroy |
Hamish Macdonald (born 18 May 1981) is an Australian broadcast journalist and news presenter.
From February 2020 until July 2021, Macdonald hosted the ABC's Q+A political panel discussion show. He has previously worked at networks including Channel 4, ITV and Al Jazeera English.
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 Television. 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 Gay 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 10[]
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 criticized 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 rejoined Network Ten, regularly hosting The Sunday Project and later being appointed the permanent host in January 2018. He remained in the position until December 2019 upon taking on his new role as host of Q&A on ABC. He will continue to appear on The Project as a guest.
In May 2019, Macdonald hosted the 2019 Australian Federal Election coverage on Network 10.
In July 2021, it was announced that Macdonald would return to Network 10 from 22 August to host The Project on Friday night and The Sunday Project replacing Peter van Onselen.[5]
US ABC Television Network[]
On 6 January 2014, Macdonald joined the US television network ABC in a senior role as an international affairs correspondent. Despite being contracted to Network Ten in Australia until March 2014, MacDonald gained an early release from Ten who supported his new appointment. He was initially based in New York City but moved to London later in 2014. His ABC contract reportedly allowed him to accept limited outside work with other organisations in certain circumstances.[6]
Q+A on ABC TV[]
Macdonald hosted Q+A on Australia's ABC TV from February 2020, replacing Tony Jones[7] as host of the panel program until his final appearance in June 2021. Macdonald was at the helm of the show as it moved from Monday night to Thursday. With Macdonald at the helm, viewership plummeted from 411,000 in early 2020 to 280,000 a year later. By April 2021, the numbers had plunged even further, with just 224,000 metro viewers tuning in. Macdonald left the role after 18 months, stating that he was excited to be “moving into a new opportunity” and looked forward to working with the ABC in the future.[8]
The abuse Macdonald received on Twitter while hosting Q+A, which prompted him to deactivate his account in January 2021, contributed to his decision to leave the program.[9] Similarly, another ABC presenter, Lisa Millar, also decided to quit the social media site in September 2021 due to the abuse she was also receiving while hosting News Breakfast.[10] Both Macdonald and Millar's experiences prompted a public discussion about the high level of personal abuse and bullying Australian journalists face on Twitter, and how the platform can better manage the issue.[10][11][12]
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.
On 6 June 2019, Macdonald came out as gay and is in a relationship with partner Jacob Fitzroy.[13]
References[]
- ^ Hamish MacDonald Wins Young Journalist of the Year Award Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Charles Sturt University
- ^ Jump up to: a b The Al Jazeera Aussies The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2006
- ^ "News Anchors". Al Jazeera. 2008. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Idato, Michael (16 September 2013). "The truth is ... I'm leaving: Hamish Macdonald quits". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- ^ Knox, David. "Hamish Macdonald returning to The Project | TV Tonight". https://tvtonight.com.au/. Retrieved 21 July 2021. External link in
|website=(help) - ^ Idato, Michael (3 January 2014). "Former Channel Ten correspondent Hamish Macdonald signs with US network ABC". The Age. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ Kelly, Vivienne (7 November 2019). "Hamish Macdonald confirmed to host ABC's Q&A in 2020". Mumbrella. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ Quinn, Karl (19 July 2021). "Q&A host Hamish Macdonald to leave ABC after 18 months". The Age. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ Quinn, Karl (21 August 2021). "'It was pretty isolating': Why Hamish Macdonald left Q+A to return to The Project". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Quinn, Karl (17 September 2021). "'I wasn't looking to make a fuss': Why journalists are giving up on Twitter". The Age. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Sales, Leigh (14 September 2021). "Bullying on Twitter has become unhinged. It's time to call out the personal, sexist attacks". ABC News. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Knox, David (17 September 2021). ""I do 15 hours of live TV a week": Lisa Millar reflects on quitting Twitter". TV Tonight. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "The Project's Hamish MacDonald Publicly Comes Out as Gay at GQ's Gentleman's Ball as he proudly holds hands with Boyfriend Jacob Fitzroy". MSN. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
External links[]
- The Al Jazeera Aussies Sydney Morning Herald
- Al Jazeera people
- ABC News (Australia) presenters
- Australian television journalists
- Australian reporters and correspondents
- Living people
- Charles Sturt University alumni
- 1981 births
- LGBT journalists from Australia
- LGBT broadcasters from Australia
- Gay men