Leigh Sales AM, ABC presenter, journalist and author, will deliver the 2023 Andrew Olle Media Lecture, presented by ABC Radio Sydney
As one of Australia’s most respected journalists and a presenter of ABC TV’s 7.30 and Australian Story, Sales has interviewed world leaders and celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney (her hero), Elton John, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Bill Gates and every living Australian Prime Minister.
The lecture remembers the iconic ABC Radio Sydney presenter Andrew Olle, who died from brain cancer in 1995.
Sales has worked as a general news reporter and the ABC’s Washington correspondent for the four years port the 9/11 terrorist attacks. On her return to Australia, she began her 12 years anchoring the ABC’s flagship current affairs program 7.30.
The winner of three Walkley Awards, author of five books including the recently released Storytellers: Questions, Answers and the Story of Journalism and co-host of the podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 with Annabel Crabb, in 2023 Sales’ service to journalism and the community was recognised with two honorary doctorates from Edith Cowan University and the Queensland University of Technology.
Sales said:
“We are at a juncture in journalism where Andrew Olle’s values are more essential than ever – fairness, impartiality, accuracy, precision but even more than that, empathy and humility.
It’s an incredible honour to be asked to deliver this lecture in his shadow and to remember the best ways for journalism to win and hold the public’s trust.”
Previous Andrew Olle Media Lecture speakers include ABC Chair Ita Buttrose AC OBE, Peter FitzSimons, Lisa Wilkinson, Caroline Wilson, Joseph Kahn, Waleed Aly, Helen McCabe, Kate McClymont, Mark Colvin, Laurie Oakes, Ray Martin AM, John Hartigan, John Doyle AM, Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Stokes AC and Jana Wendt.
The lecture is organised by ABC Radio Sydney and will be delivered at a black-tie dinner at Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney on Friday 27 October. ABC Radio Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover will host the event, with tickets available here:
Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2023 – ABC Sydney
The lecture will be broadcast nationally on ABC Radio’s Nightlife on Friday 27 October from 11.00pm on ABC Radio and later available on the ABC News channel and ABC iview, with times to be announced.