Ian McPhedran (born 1957) is an Australian author and retired journalist. Having begun his journalism career at ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'', from 1998 he worked as a defence writer for the

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

mastheads, including the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

Northern Territory News The ''Northern Territory News'' (also known and branded as the ''NT News'') is a morning Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published every week from ...

'', before announcing his retirement in January 2016.

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

has published eight books by McPhedran, who won a Walkley Award in 1999.

Career

Prior to 1998, McPhedran was foreign affairs and defence writer for ''

''. Between 1998 and 2016 he worked as a defence writer

, writing for publications including the ''

'', ''

'' and ''

'', before announcing his retirement in January 2016. At the beginning of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

in 2003, McPhedran reported on the war from Baghdad, staying at the Meridien Palestine Hotel. McPhedran was expelled from the country by the Iraqi Government soon after

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

photojournalist Paul Moran was killed by a suicide car bomber in northeastern Iraq on 23 October 2003. McPhedran reported that Iraqi officials had accused him of not following regulations when he left his hotel to visit the Information Ministry building without a minder. McPhedran's first book, ''The Amazing SAS'', was published by HarperCollins in 2005.

Michelle Grattan Michelle Grattan (born 30 June 1944) is an Australian journalist who was the first woman to become editor of an Australian metropolitan daily newspaper. Specialising in political journalism, she has written for and edited many significant List ...

's review in ''The Age'' criticised McPhedran for offering the 'official account' of an incident in Afghanistan in which innocent people died after being mistaken for insurgents. She suggested that further discussion and analysis was needed of the incident, but overall she praised McPhedran's remarkable access. In 2009 McPhedran was invited by the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

to take part in an "embedding trial". McPhedran suggested the ADF's model should rather be called 'media hosting' and he was sometimes frustrated by a lack of access and time wasting during the trial.

Family and personal life

McPhedran, the oldest son born to his Anglo-Burmese refugee father, Colin McPhedran, and Australian mother, was raised in

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...

, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. McPhedran is married to journalist Verona Burgess. They live in Balmain, Sydney. ''White Butterflies,'' a book written by Ian McPhedran's father Colin with editing assistance from Verona Burgess, tells the story of Colin's journey on foot from Burma to India during World War II to escape the Japanese invasion of Burma. Colin, then 11 years old, embarked on the journey with his mother and two siblings but only he survived.

Awards

*1993 award for the news reporting section in the United Nations Association Media Peace Awards *1999

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for best news reporting *2015 Aviation Online Contribution of the Year

Works

* * * * * * *''The Mighty Krait: The little boat that pulled off Australia's most daring commando raid of WWII.'' HarperCollins. 2018. . *''Where Soldiers Lie: The Quest to Find Australia's Missing War Dead.'' HarperCollins''.'' 2019. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhedran, Ian Living people 1957 births Australian people of Burmese descent Walkley Award winners The Canberra Times people Australian maritime historians