Katrina Lee is an Australian executive director and former television news presenter. Lee is perhaps best known for her association 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 ...

where she was a

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

-winning news presenter at TEN-10 in Sydney from the 1970's to the 1990's.

Career

Television career

After beginning her career as a newspaper journalist at ''

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

'' in the 1970's, Lee joined TEN-10. Lee was appointed as co-presenter of ''

Ten Eyewitness News ''10 News First'' is an Australian television newscast, produced by Network 10. The network's ninety-minute long news program airs at 5pm each evening covering local, national and world news, including sport and weather. Weekend editions are p ...

'' in 1978. Her appointment came just months after the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

attracted widespread attention by appointing

Margaret Throsby Margaret Ellen Throsby AM, (born 1941) is an Australian radio and television broadcaster. She is known for having interviewed thousands of notable people for Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs. Early life Margaret Ellen Throsb ...

as an ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

'' presenter on ABC TV. Although Melody Iliffe is considered to be Australia's first female news presenter when she read the news on Brisbane's

QTQ-9 QTQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving Brisbane, Queensland. It is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is part of the Nine Network. It broadcasts on VHF Channel 8 ( digital). QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August ...

in the 1960's, Throsby and Lee are now regarded as being part of a pioneering group of women who became the first women to read television news bulletins in Australia. Throughout her time reading the news at Ten, Lee was paired with John Bailey,

Tim Webster Tim Webster (born 15 December 1951) is an Australian television and radio personality and sports broadcaster. He held various presenting roles on Network 10 from 1981 until 2008. Career Early career In 1972, Webster started working for Ba ...

, Ron Wilson and

John Mangos John (born 9 July 1956) is an Australian news presenter. Mangos has previously been a news presenter on Sky News Australia. He has also made cameo appearances on the Australian comedy programs ''Pizza (TV series), Pizza'', ''Swift and Shift C ...

. In late 1984, Lee commenced co-hosted a national daytime program called ''Good Afternoon Australia'' with

Gordon Elliott Gordon Elliott may refer to: * Gordon Elliott (journalist) Gordon Elliott (born 30 September 1956) is a British Australian journalist and producer, radio and television personality, based now in the United States. He was the executive produc ...

. The program was launched by Ten over the summer period in an attempt to lure viewers across from the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

following the end of their popular daytime show ''

The Mike Walsh Show ''The Mike Walsh Show'' was an Australian variety daytime television series. Hosted by Mike Walsh, the show ran from 1973 to 1984 for 90 minutes each weekday afternoon. History The program was launched on the 0-10 Network and moved to the Nine ...

''. In February 1985, Ten's show was retitled ''After Noon'' as it attempted to rival Nine's new ''

Midday Noon (or midday) is 12 12-hour clock, o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for 12-hour clock, meridiem, literally 12:00 noon), 12 p.m. (for 12-hour clock, post meridiem, literally "after noon"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24 ...

'' program, hosted by Ray Martin. Ten's ''After Noon'' was axed soon after, unable to compete with ''Midday''. In 1985 Lee was part of one of the first television crews to travel to Ethiopia to cover the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

and in 1986 she co-hosted Ten's coverage of the

wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson The wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson was held on 23 July 1986, at Westminster Abbey in London, England. Courtship and engagement Prince Andrew, the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinbu ...

with Gordon Elliott and James Whitaker. In 1988, was a part of a new current affairs show on Ten called ''Page One'', which covered events from Australia and around the world. Lee's fellow reporters included

Chris Masters Christopher Todd Mordetzky (born January 8, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) under the ring name Chris Adonis as a member of Strictly Business. He is a former two-time National ...

Maxine McKew Maxine Margaret McKew (born 22 July 1953) is a former Australian Labor politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the First Rudd Ministry and the F ...

, Kerry O'Brien,

Jill Singer Jill Leonie Singer (1957 – 8 June 2017) was an Australian journalist, writer and television presenter. Career Singer began her career in journalism as an ABC radio trainee in 1984. She eventually became a senior reporter for '' The 7.30 Rep ...

and Brad Robinson. After ''Page One'' was axed in 1989, Lee was retained as part of the reporting team for ''Public Eye'' - Ten's new current affairs program which incorporated most of the reporting and production staff from ''Page One''. In 1991, Lee joined the ABC where she became a reporter for national

travel show A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or web series, online series that describes travel in general or tourist attractions without recommending particular package deals or tour operators. A travelogue film is an early typ ...

''Holiday''. Her fellow ''Holiday'' reporters included Eric Campbell and Bob La Castra. Lee also hosted the ABC's national Sunday afternoon ''Review'' arts and culture program. In late 1991 Lee was back at Ten, reading the news alongside

. She also presenting a special for Ten called '' Russia in Crisis''.

Later career

After leaving television, Lee became a senior lecturer in journalism. Lee appeared on a 2007 episode of the

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 ...

's '' Where Are They Now?'' program alongside fellow notable news presenters

James Dibble James Edward Dibble (4 February 1923 – 13 December 2010) was an Australian television presenter, best known as the presenter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) Sydney news for 27 years, from Monday, 5 November 1956 until his ...

Roger Climpson Roger Climpson (born 18 October 1932) is an English-born Australian retired media personality who served a lengthy career in both radio and television, as a journalist, announcer, newsreader and presenter. He is best known for his time at ''S ...

David Johnston David Lloyd Johnston (born June 28, 1941) is a Canadian academic, author, and statesman who served from 2010 to 2017 as Governor General of Canada, the 28th since Canadian Confederation. He is the commissioner of the Leaders' Debates Commis ...

, Margaret Throsby and

Jennifer Keyte Jennifer Anne Keyte (born 21 January 1960) is an Australian journalist and news presenter. Keyte currently presents the Melbourne and Adelaide editions of ''10 News First''. She was previously a weekend news presenter on ''Seven News'' in Mel ...

where they discussed their respective careers. Lee then became the director of communications and then executive advisor at the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney The Archdiocese of Sydney ( la, Archidioecesis Sydneyensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church. Its episcopal see is Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Erected in 1842, the archdiocese is the metr ...

. In this role, she was vocal in her support of

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . I ...

who had been accused of sexual abuse, and defensive of the way the Catholic Church was dealing with sexual abuse allegations. Her support of Pell attracted criticism from families of alleged child sexual abuse victims. Lee supported Pell as he stood trial in August 2018 after he pleaded not guilty to five historical child sexual abuse charges. In December 2018, Pell was found guilty by a jury of all charges but his convictions were subsequently overturned and

quashed Quashed (foaled 1932) was a British-bred and British-trained racehorse, winner of The Oaks in 1935. For many years, the Verdict family was not accepted into the British Stud Book because Quashed's dam was effectively a half-bred and it was ...

by the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

in April 2020 and he was released from prison.

Awards

Lee received

s for Most Popular Female (New South Wales) in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Personal life

Lee married

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

in 1976 when they were both journalists at ''The Daily Telegraph''. They then worked together at Ten, with Potter becoming the station's crime reporter. Potter retired in 2010, five years after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He died in 2014 and Lee delivered the first reading at his funeral mass held at St Mary's Cathedral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Katrina Living people Australian television newsreaders and news presenters Australian women television presenters Year of birth missing (living people)