ABC Chair Ita Buttrose AC OBE to deliver 2019 Lowy Institute Media Lecture

The Lowy Institute is delighted to announce that the 2019 Media Lecture will be delivered by the Chair of the ABC, Ita Buttrose AC OBE. Following the lecture, Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove will moderate a Q&A session with Ms Buttrose.

Each year, the Institute invites a prominent media figure to deliver the Media Lecture at the Media Award Dinner. Now in its seventh year, the Lowy Institute Media Award is Australia’s premier award for recognising excellence in foreign-affairs journalism. The Media Award is presented to an Australian journalist or journalistic team working in print, broadcast, or online media who has deepened the knowledge or shaped the discussion of international policy. The winner or winning team receives $20,000.

Ita Buttrose has had a remarkable career in Australian media and publishing. Beginning at The Australian Women’s Weekly, she later went onto become the founding editor of ground-breaking women’s magazine Cleo. She was the first female editor of an Australian metropolitan newspaper, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and she has appeared as a guest and host across numerous commercial television programs – most recently on Studio 10. She has authored 11 books and has sat on the boards of Australian Consolidated Press, News Corp, and Television & Telecasters Pty Ltd.

She has been a dedicated advocate for public health awareness, particularly in relation to breast cancer, prostate cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, macular degeneration, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. She is National Ambassador for Dementia Australia.

Over the course of her career, she has received numerous awards and honours, including honorary doctorates from Macquarie University, the University of Wollongong and the University of NSW; an AO for her work in public health; an OBE for services to journalism; a Centenary Medal for business leadership, and in 2013 she was named Australian of the Year.

Previous Lowy Institute Media Award Lecturers have included former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull MP, former ABC Managing Director Michelle Guthrie, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, Chief Executive of News Corp Robert Thomson, Director‑General of the Office of National Intelligence Nick Warner AO PSM, and New Yorker columnist Susan Glasser.

Previous Media Award winners include freelance television journalist Evan Williams, the ABC’s Matt Brown, Fairfax’s Jewel Topsfield, The Australian’s Paul Maley, the ABC’s Hayden Cooper, and Fairfax’s John Garnaut.

The 2019 Lowy Institute Media Award Dinner will be held at NSW Parliament House on Saturday, 19 October. The Media Award shortlist will be announced in mid-September.

For media inquiries please contact the Director of Media and Communications, Erin Bassett: ebassett@lowyinstitute.org