Mark Davis is an Australian investigative

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and lawyer, best known for his work on ''

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

SBS TV SBS may refer to: Broadcasting * SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries * Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands ** SBS6, Dutch television channel ** SBS9, Dutch television channel * Special Broadcasting Service ...

, where he is currently a co-presenter and video journalist. Davis was educated at Warrandyte Primary School and then St Kevin's College in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Career

ABC TV

Prior to commencing at SBS, Davis' background was as an investigative journalist with the ABC TV ''

Foreign Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

'' and ''

Four Corners The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

'' programs. Working on ''Foreign Correspondent'' in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, Davis was awarded the 1998

Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...

for Excellence in Journalism for his report on ''North Korea Famine'' and in the same year was awarded the New York Festivals award for coverage of an ongoing news story, ''The Lion of the Panshi''. Whilst at ''Four Corners'', Davis won the 1998 Walkley Award for Best International Report with Peter McEvoy for ''The Survivor's Story'' and the 1999 Walkley Award for Best TV Current Affairs Report, called ''Blood on the Cross''.

SBS TV

Davis first hosted ''Dateline'' from 2003 to 2004, succeeding

Jana Wendt Jana Bohumila Wendt ( ; born 9 May 1956) is an Australian Gold Logie award-winning television journalist, reporter and writer. Early life Wendt was born in Melbourne to Czech parents who emigrated to Australia in 1949. Wendt attended Presentat ...

and preceding

George Negus George Edward Negus AM (born 13 March 1942) is an Australian journalist, author, television and radio presenter specialising in international affairs. He was a pioneer of Australian TV journalism, first appearing on the ABC’s groundbreaking T ...

. Davis went on assignment and returned to the program in 2011 as a co-host with video journalist

Yalda Hakim Yalda Hakim (born 26 June 1983) is an Australian broadcast journalist, news presenter, and documentary maker. After her family left Afghanistan and settled in Australia in 1986, she grew up in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta and went o ...

. Both Davis and Hakim take turns presenting the program in approximately six week blocks, while the other is away on assignment. Whilst on assignment, in 2007 Davis was just metres away from the bombings that greeted

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

’s return to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and was in the thick of the action during

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

’s coup in 2009. He has also won acclaim for reporting on the trial of Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp ...

. His previous interviews have also included

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

’s former Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamed Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

and Pakistan's former President

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

. During 2010, Davis gained unprecedented access to Australian

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

founder

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

, secured the first interviews with two of the Bali Nine and gained worldwide attention via the ''Dateline'' website for his profile of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

anti-Islam MP

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

. Davis was nominated for the Most Outstanding Public Affairs category at the 2011 Logies Awards for ''The Condemned'', an intimate portrayal of Bali Nine members

Andrew Chan Andrew Chan (; 12 January 1984 – 29 April 2015) was an Australian man who was convicted and executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking as a member of the Bali Nine. In 2005, Chan was arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. ...

and Myuran Sukumaran, partially filmed inside

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Kerobokan Kerobokan is a '' kelurahan'' (administrative village) in North Kuta district, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. Kerobokan Prison is located there. It is boxed in by the Seminyak/Oberoi, Umalas/Canggu, and Denpasar regions. Near the main intersec ...

death-row prison. Davis has won a Logie and five Walkley Awards, including the

Gold Walkley The Gold Walkley is the major award of the Walkley Awards The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic ...

in 2000 for a ''Dateline'' report on pro-Indonesian militias in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

, called ''Blood Money''.

References

External links

Official SBS Dateline website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Mark Australian television journalists Australian television presenters Walkley Award winners Living people Special Broadcasting Service Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People educated at St Kevin's College, Melbourne Journalists from Melbourne 20th-century Australian journalists 21st-century Australian journalists Australian investigative journalists