Richard Alan Ackland is an Australian journalist, publisher and lawyer, who has won many awards for his reporting. Ackland graduated with degrees in economics and law in the early 1970s and was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales before going on to pursue a career in journalism.

Career

Ackland initially worked in the financial press and was appointed the

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

correspondent for the ''

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' during the 1970s. In 1986, he founded his law publishing company, Law Press of Australia, and since then has continued to be the publisher of two important Australian legal journals, '' Justinian'' and the '' Gazette of Law and Journalism''. Moving to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in the 1980s, Ackland was appointed the host of '' Late Night Live'' on ABC Radio National. Subsequently he was host of the ABC Radio National breakfast program, ''Daybreak''. From 1998 to 1999, Ackland was the presenter of the ABC-TV show '' Media Watch''. During this time he was awarded a Gold Walkley together with colleagues

Deborah Richards Deborah Richards is an Australian journalist, of English descent from the Edwards family. Richards has worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Essential Viewing Group, and Special Broadcasting Service. Life Richards attended Brighto ...

and Anne Connolly for their expose of the notorious

cash for comment affair The cash for comment affair was an Australian scandal that broke in 1999 concerning paid advertising in radio that was presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary. John Laws, a shock jock radio presenter for Sydne ...

. Ackland was the legal columnist for Fairfax Media and edited and published the online journal ''Justinian''. Ackland stopped being employed as a regular columnist by Fairfax in June 2014 to write for '' The Saturday Paper''. As of July 2014, Ackland is employed as the Legal Editor at Large at '' Guardian Australia''. In 2016 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the print and television media industries, particularly through reporting on legal issues, and as a publisher. In September 2016 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by Macquarie University.

References

External links

JustinianLaw Press of AustraliaFairfax press law columnRichard Ackland at saxton..com
Australian television presenters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of Australia Walkley Award winners {{australia-journalist-stub