Jeanette Francis (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: جانيت فرانسيس), better known as Jan Fran, is a

Lebanese-Australian , langs = Australian English, Lebanese Arabic, Standard Arabic, French, Armenian , rels = Majority: Christian: Maronite Catholic, Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Protestant (55%), Minority: Islam: Shia Islam, Sunni Islam, Alawite (37%), ...

journalist and presenter. She has worked with the

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

(SBS), and served as co-host of current affairs and satire TV program '' The Feed'' and the podcast '' The Few Who Do'' alongside

Marc Fennell Marc Fennell is an Australian film critic, technology journalist, radio personality, author and television presenter. Fennell is a co-anchor of '' The Feed'' and the host of ''Mastermind''. Career Film critic In 2002, Fennell was a winner o ...

Early life

Fran was born in Lebanon to a

Maronite Christian Lebanese Maronite Christians ( ar, المسيحية المارونية في لبنان; syc, ܡܫܝܚܝ̈ܐ ܡܪ̈ܘܢܝܐ ܕܠܒܢܢ) are adherents of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, which is the largest Christian denomination in the country ...

family. In 1989, she moved to Australia, where she grew up in

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales. Fran studied journalism and international studies at the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

Career

Fran began her career as a foreign correspondent with SBS, working on ''

Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intu ...

'' and ''

Dateline A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is ...

''. For her series on women in post-war

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, she was nominated for a Young Walkley Award in 2012. She was a presenter on ''The Feed'' from the program’s launch in 2013 until July 2019. She has collaborated in various ways with co-presenter

. As a presenter, Fran has hosted TV coverage of

Tropfest Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. It has also become known as the world's first global film festival. Founded by actor/director John Polson, Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people at the 'Tropicana Caffe' in ...

, and has been a guest presenter on

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 ...

’s '' The Project''. In 2017, she was made an Australia Day Ambassador. Fran also hosted the series ''Medicine or Myth?'' on SBS in 2019. Fran is an ambassador for

Plan International Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation which works in over 75 countries across Africa, the Americas, and Asia to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. Its focus is on child protection, education, child par ...

Australia, and has hosted a series of podcasts called ''Sexism and the City'' which Plan commissioned. She has also challenged the different ways in which the perpetrators of the

Christchurch mosque shootings On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...

and the

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff. In a 9- ...

were described and presented by the media. As of November 2019, she is writing a memoir, ''Of Middle Eastern Appearance,'' to be published by Hachette Australia. In 2021, Fran hosted ''Question Everything'' with

Wil Anderson William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster. Early life William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Personal life

In 2015, Fran married Al Morrow, an advertising director.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fran, Jan Lebanese emigrants to Australia Australian reporters and correspondents Australian television presenters Australian women journalists Australian women television presenters Living people University of Technology Sydney alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 1980s births 21st-century Australian journalists 21st-century Australian women writers Lebanese Maronites