David Marr (born in Sydney 1947) is an Australian journalist and author. He was educated at the Sydney Church of England Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated in Arts and Law.
Marr began working as an articled clerk with the legal firm Allen, Allen and Hemsley but then turned to journalism. He wrote for the Bulletin and the National Times and became editor of the National Times in 1981-1982. He was editor of the ABC program 'Four Corners' (1985, 1990-1991), a role in which he won a Walkley Award and the presenter of Radio National's 'Arts today' program (1994-1996). From 2003 to 2004, he hosted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme Media Watch and he currently works for the Sydney Morning Herald.
As host of Media Watch, Marr investigated and exposed incidents of bias, corruption, poor reporting, plagiarism and outside influence within the media. His term as host was also notable for his frequent criticism of practices not only within the commercial media, but also within the ABC itself. In 2003 he played an integral role in exposing radio commentators Alan Jones and John Laws in the cash for comment affair. In 2004, Marr's pursuit of Australian Broadcasting Authority head David Flint - who had written fan letters to Jones, who he was investigating - played a significant role in forcing Flint's resignation.
Marr has been accused of left wing bias, particularly by those, such as Andrew Bolt, Janet Albrechtsen and Paddy McGuinness from the Murdoch press, who have been accused by the Media Watch program of using questionable journalistic practises.
He has also written a critically acclaimed biography of Australian writer Patrick White, which won The Age's Book of the Year award and the New South Wales Premier's Award for Non-Fiction. More recently, Marr wrote, along with Marian Wilkinson, Dark Victory, an account of the 2001 Australian election in the wake of the MV Tampa incident.
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Last updated: 05-29-2005 01:54:05
