Paul Sheehan (born 1951) is an Australian former columnist and senior writer for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'', and the '' Melbourne Age'' where he has been day editor, chief of staff and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

correspondent. He generally writes from a conservative viewpoint in the opinion of observers.

Early life and education

Sheehan is a graduate of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

and the Graduate School of Journalism at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Career

Sheehan was a Nieman Fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. His work has appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'' and ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

''. Sheehan's first book, ''Among the Barbarians'', was published in 1998. The book, written by Sheehan to "lift the veil of intimidation" hanging over critical discussion of

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, spent five months on Australian best-seller lists. In 2003, he released his second book, ''The Electronic Whorehouse'', a critical examination of the media in Australia. His third book, '' Girls Like You'' (2005), commented on the Ashfield gang rapes, a series of gang rape trials in Australia involving four brothers who had recently migrated to Australia from Pakistan.

Commentary

Sheehan's columns in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' were generally written from a right-wing perspective and were noted for their criticism of the "human rights industry", Muslims in Australia, large-scale immigration and the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

. Other topics covered by Sheehan included criticism of the Australian legal system's handling of sexual assault cases as well as criticism of the

neo-conservative Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party alo ...

ideology. Paul Sheehan, who suffers from chronic pain, has written an article promoting magnesium-rich "Unique Water" as a pain relief. This was criticised by ABC-TV Media Watch, and may be merely a placebo effect. On 24 February 2016, Sheehan published a column in the Sydney Morning Herald titled, 'The story of Louise: we'll never know the scale of the rape epidemic in Sydney', which described the horrific rape of a nurse in the Inner City of Sydney in 2002. He subsequently published a retraction of this article on 25 February 2016 in the Sydney Morning Herald. Sheehan left the Sydney Morning Herald in April 2016 without having contributed any further articles.

References

External links

Girls Like You Review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehan, Paul Australian columnists Australian journalists Living people Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Nieman Fellows 1951 births The Sydney Morning Herald people