Darren McDonald (born 1967) is an Australian news anchor known for his work on Australia's

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and New Zealand's

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

Career

McDonald was one of Australia's youngest news anchors, first presenting at age 17. Darren went on to read the news on ''11am'', and then became the first anchor of '' Sunrise News'' when it launched to cover the first Gulf War. Darren later worked at ''

National Nine News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, Sydney, GTV (Australia) ...

'', however his involvement with

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

show ''Sex/Life'' saw the end of his Australian television career after a segment saw him simulate masturbation. He later became a news reader in New Zealand at

in the late 1990s, where he regularly presented late night news programme

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...

Personal life

McDonald is gay. In early 2002, a number of people were arrested for selling methamphetamine and importing MDMA into New Zealand; McDonald was amongst them. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to offering to supply methamphetamine and conspiracy to supply ecstasy. He admitted having been a drug addict from the age of 21, saying that he would spend around $1000 on drugs each week, and that he had even read the news while high on

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

References

Gay journalists Living people Australian LGBT journalists Australian television presenters New Zealand television presenters Australian expatriates in New Zealand 1967 births 21st-century LGBT people {{NewZealand-tv-bio-stub

Career

Personal life

See also

References