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Sharri Markson
File:Sharri 3.jpg
Markson appearing on ABC's QANDA
Born (1984-03-08) 8 March 1984 (age 40)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationJournalist
Spouse
Chaz Heitner
​
(m. 2017)​

Sharri Markson (born 8 March 1984) is an Australian journalist. She is Political Editor-at-Large forThe Daily Telegraph and host of the Sky News program "Sharri" which airs on Sunday evenings.[1]

Early life

Markson was born and raised in Sydney.[2] Her father is celebrity promoter, Max Markson. She worked for The Sunday Telegraph, where she was twice named News Limited's Young Journalist of the Year.[1][3]

Career

In 2012 Markson won her first Walkley Award for television news reporting for a Cabinet Leak that revealed the NSW Government banned the sale of unleaded petrol without ethanol, to the benefit of the monopoly company, Manildra, against departmental advice, in a move that would increase the price of petrol for taxpayers.[4]

Markson became media editor of The Australian newspaper in February 2014.[5] There she was "noted for her aggressive pursuit of stories involving the ABC and Fairfax Media."[6]

She shifted to a senior writing role in 2015, and in September 2016 was appointed National Political Editor for The Daily Telegraph.[6]. She notably wrote front page stories on then Herald columnist, Mike Carlton's abusive and anti-semitic emails and tweets to readers in the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Markson's reporting led to the long-standing columnist's resignation from Fairfax. Fairfax's publisher, Sean Aylmer, told 2UE, "The issue wasn't the printing of the column. What sort of got him into trouble was the way he responded to those readers, and it was totally inappropriate, using very inappropriate language." [7]. A month after the coverage Markson was the subject of an anti-Semitic threat [8].

Markson won a Walkley Award in 2018 alongside journalists Kylar Loussikian and Chris Dore for coverage of Barnaby Joyce's affair and "love child" with a parliamentary staffer, which ultimately led to Joyce's resignation as Australia's deputy prime minister.[9]. The sensational front-page story, Bundle of Joyce, featured Joyce's girlfriend, Vicki Campion, walking across the street while pregnant. The story was initially met with controversy, with some journalists, commentators and politicians claiming the affair and pregnancy should have been kept secret from the public. Markson argued it was in the public interest to expose the hypocrisy of Joyce, who is a conservative politician who had campaigned on family values, opposed same-sex marriage and did not think women should get the cervical cancer vaccine because it might make them more promiscuous.[10]. Later coverage by Markson revealed that Campion had been awarded jobs she was not qualified for in the officers of other government politicians and that Joyce had lied about the affair to then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The story led to Mr Turnbull announcing a "bonk ban" where ministers could not have sexual relations with their staff members. [11].

In the same year Markson won a Kennedy Award for Journalism for Scoop of the Year and Political Journalist of the Year and the overall award for journalist of the year [12].

In 2018, Markson won the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism, which was presented to her by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch at an award ceremony in Sydney. When presenting Markson with the award, Lachlan Murdoch said: "Through your bold, take-no-prisoners reporting you broke ripper stories day after day and shook and shook and shook the political landscape." [13].

As political editor of The Daily Telegraph, Markson also broke news of the impending leadership coup against Malcolm Turnbull by Peter Dutton. On August 17, 2018, Markson was the first to report Dutton was being urged to seize the leadership "within weeks" by conservative MPs unhappy with Malcolm Turnbull's leadership.[14]. She followed up her story by breaking another story the next day that Dutton was seriously considering launching a challenge for the prime ministership [15]. The coverage of the leadership coup led Markson to jointly win (along with David Speers) the 2019 Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery Journalist of the Year Award presented by the National Press Club of Australia. [16].

In June 2018, she attended the AIJAC sponsored Rambam Fellowship Program in Israel, along with other journalists and politicians. According to The Australian Jewish News, "she found Israel to be an eye-opening experience as a journalist, but also discovered a deep emotional awakening inside her as an Australian Jew while visiting the Western Wall for the first time".[17]

Markson began hosting a self-titled weekly program on Sky News Live from 9 October 2018.[18] The debut episode of ''Sharri'' was watched by 105,000 viewers over the course of an hour.[19]. After returning from maternity leave, Markson's show shifted to Sunday nights at 6pm where her ratings reached 314,000 viewers[20].

In 2019, Markson won another Kennedy Award for columnist of the year.

Markson's work has occasionally attracted controversy. In November 2015, she was detained by Israeli security officials for breaching protocol during a visit to the Ziv Medical Centre in Safed.[21]

2019 Federal Election Coverage

During the Federal Election campaign, Markson took her five-month-old baby on the campaign trail where they traveled with the Prime Minister on the Prime Minister's private plane. Markson's baby was present for an exclusive sit-down interview with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.[22]

In May 2019, Markson was "mocked on twitter" after stating on air 8 days before the 2019 Federal election that the Coalition had a real chance to win;[23] Markson's analysis defied the majority of polling and public opinion which expected an electoral victory for opposition leader Bill Shorten and rather predicted the Coalition would come to win the Federal Election by taking a few key seats in Victoria, New South Wales and crucially, Queensland. Markson later credited the Coalition victory to an incredible turnaround pulled off by leader Scott Morrison in key marginal areas.[24]

Early Career

Markson began her journalism career as a copy girl at The Sunday Telegraph at the age of 16. She was promoted to the State Political Reporter, Canberra correspondent, and finally, Chief of Staff.[25]

She twice won the Young Journalist of the Year Award and did secondments at the New York Post and The Sun in London. As political reporter for The Sunday Telegraph in Canberra, Sharri revealed Tony Abbott missed the $42 million stimulus package vote in Parliament because he fell asleep after a night of drinking.[26]

She joined the Seven Network in 2011, and was part of a team of journalists who won a Walkley award for TV news reporting.[2][27] As news editor at the Seven Network in 2011, Markson was commended in the Walkley Awards for an investigation that revealed the Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner's rush to cash-in on the Solar Bonus Scheme subsidy for solar panels on his roof after then Premier Kristina Keneally announced it was shutting down. The coverage was cited as the first scandal of the new O'Farrell government.[28]

Editor of Cleo Magazine

Markson was recruited as the Australian editor of Cleo in 2013.[29] Her tenure as editor involved launching a fight for equal pay for men and women named "Ditch the pay GAP".[30] The magazine also ran a prominent investigation into companies which were paying women less than men by examining the financial statements of 100 Australian companies.[31]

While editor, Markson made the decision to no longer mention sex on the magazine's cover.[32] In the same year coverage in CLEO triggered an investigation at the University of Sydney into sexual harassment occurring during 'initiation ceremonies' at the University's prestigious colleges.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b Crabb, Annabel (18 July 2005). "Media soiled in London terror trickery". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Leys, Nick (10 December 2012). "At just 28, TV journalist Sharri Markson to take the reins at Cleo". The Australian. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. ^ Hicks, Robin (10 December 2012). "Sharri Markson is appointed editor of Cleo". Mumbrella. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Seven wins TV news Walkley Award \". Yahoo News. Yahoo News. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  5. ^ Christensen, Nic (6 February 2014). "Sharri Markson named new media editor for The Australian, vows to bring more 'attitude'". Mumbrella. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  6. ^ a b Ward, Miranda (23 September 2016). "Sharri Markson joins The Daily Telegraph as national political editor". Mumbrella. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Mike Carlton Quits Fairfax after anti-semitic abuse of readers". The Australian. The Australian. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Markson targeted by anti-Semitic threat". Times of Israel. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Daily Telegraph leads the pack for news-breaking journalism at Kennedy Awards". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). 1 August 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  10. ^ "The Barnaby Affair". Daily Telegraph (Sydney). 1 August 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Malcoln Turnbull bonk Ban Memoir". The Australian. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  12. ^ "MSharri Markson wins Kennedy Foundation journalist of the year award". Mumbrella. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  13. ^ "Year of Innovation and Awards Prove News Corp is taking journalism to new heights". The Daily Telegraph. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Conservative coalition MPs urging Peter Dutton to replace Turnbull". The Daily Telegraph. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  15. ^ "MPs who say PM has shown no improvenment continue to back home affairs minister". The Daily Telegraph. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  16. ^ "Sky news presenters joint press gallery winners". TVTonight. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  17. ^ "Rambam journos report back". The Australian Jewish News. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  18. ^ "Daily Telegraph political editor Sharri Markson to host Sky News program". The Daily Telegraph. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  19. ^ 🖉Carmody, Broede (16 October 2018). "Sharri Markson fails to spark in Sky News debut". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  20. ^ "Sky news records record ratings for Covid19 crisis coverage". mediaweek. 1 August 2019.
  21. ^ Knott, Matthew (23 November 2015). "Journalist Sharri Markson detained on Israeli visit". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  22. ^ "The final week: Why Scott Morrison is feeling upbeat". The Daily Telegraphy. 1 August 2019.
  23. ^ Loomes, Phoebe (19 May 2019). "Sky News commentator Sharri Markson predicted Liberal win eight days before election". news.com.au.
  24. ^ "The final week: Why Scott Morrison is feeling upbeat". The Daily Telegraphy. 1 August 2019.
  25. ^ "At just 28, TV journalist Sharri Markson to take the reins at Cleo\". The Australian. The Australian Media. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Tony Abbott slept through key vote\". The Daily Telegraph. News Limited Media. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  27. ^ "Seven wins TV news Walkley Award". Yahoo! News. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  28. ^ "News Limited leads 2011 Walkleys nominations\". Mumbrella. Mumbrella. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  29. ^ Colgan, Paul (15 November 2013). "Cleo Editor Sharri Markson Is Leaving Today After Bauer Merged The Title With Dolly". Business Insider. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  30. ^ "Ditch the Pay GAP". 15 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  31. ^ "Women Trail on Financial Services Pay". The Age. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  32. ^ O'Brien, Susie (24 November 2013). "How the sexual revolution became so very ordinary". Herald Sun. News Corp. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  33. ^ McNeilage, Amy (24 November 2019). "College to investigate magazine claims of sexual harassment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
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