Paul Barry

Paul Barry (born 1952) is a British-born, Australian-based journalist, who has won many awards for his investigative reporting.

Early life

He was born in England and graduated from Oxford University in 1973.

Career

He started his journalistic career in London, as an economics correspondent for Investors Chronicle. In 1978 he joined the BBC as a reporter for "The Money Programme", "Newsnight", and then "Panorama". In 1986 he moved to Australia and started work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

From 1987 to 1994 he worked as an investigative reporter for the ABC's flagship current affairs program "Four Corners". He specialised in reports on economic matters, government departmental failures and particularly corporate governance. A series of reports on now-disgraced businessman Alan Bond (and his company Bond Corporation) brought his work to national prominence in 1993. He also wrote "The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond", regarded as the definitive account of Bond's demise.

In 1995, he joined the Seven Network to present a short-lived news program "The Times". He stayed with the network, becoming presenter of the current affairs program "Witness" in 1997.

Paul moved back to the ABC to host the "Media Watch" program from 1999 to 2000. He was effectively sacked by controversial (and himself quickly replaced) ABC head Jonathon Shier after a hard-hitting interview with ABC Director Donald McDonald on the subject of government funding for the ABC. [ [http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:Nj8g56k9Cv8J:sufface.net/dear_friends/index.cgi%3Fday%3D06-12-2000+paul+barry&hl=en|the A cause: The latest of a thousand cuts] ] [ [http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s218786.htm ABC's Media Watch under the axe] ]

For the next two years he wrote for "The Sydney Morning Herald", winning an additional Walkley Award exposing a tax scam involving some prominent barristers in Sydney. He is now on the Walkley advisory board. [ [http://www.walkleys.com/board.html Walkley Board] ] He also wrote a book "Rich Kids", documenting the collapse of One.Tel. In 2004 he moved to Channel 9 to work for "60 Minutes" as an investigative reporter.

In 2006, Barry released a biography on Australian cricketer Shane Warne, called "Spun Out". Extracts of the book were published in The Age's "Good Weekend" magazine, and the book has caused a degree of controversy. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/stay-in-touch/warnies-ex-in-spin-over-bunch-of-lies-in-biography/2006/07/30/1154198011583.html] .

Paul was married to Jane Wheatley - they had 3 children together. He is now with Lisa MacGregor and has had another 3 children with her.

Awards

* 1993 Logie Award for Best Public Affairs Report, ABC "Four Corners" "Other People's Money"
* 1993 Walkley Award for Best Business Report, ABC "Four Corners" "Rich man, poor man"
* 2001 Walkley Award for Best News Report, Sydney Morning Herald "Tax Cheats"

Books

* 1991 "The Rise And Fall Of Alan Bond", [ISBN 1-86359-037-4]
* 1994 "The Rise And Rise Of Kerry Packer", [ISBN 1-86359-338-1]
* 2001 "Going For Broke", [ISBN 1-86325-197-9]
* 2003 "Rich Kids", [ISBN 1-86325-339-4]
* 2006 "Spun Out", [ISBN 0-593-05662-0]

Notes

External links

* [http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/team/team_Paul_Barry.asp "60 Minutes" Team profile]
* [http://www.icmi.com.au/speaker.phtml?id=123 ICMI Speaker profile]
* [http://www.saxton.com.au/default.asp?nc8=100&sc8=141&sd8=1394 Saxton speaker profile]