Peter Jeremy Meakin (born 12 October 1942) is an English Australian journalist who has worked as news/current affairs director for all three of Australia's commercial television networks ( Nine Network,

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

and Network Ten).

Early life

Meakin was born in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

, West Yorkshire, England in 1942. His family emigrated to Australia where he attended

St Peter's College, Adelaide , other_name = The Collegiate School of St Peter , seal_image = St Peter's College, Adelaide Logo.svg , seal_size = 150 , image = SPSC chapel and memorial hall.jpg , image_size ...

.''Who's Who in Australia 2016'', ConnectWeb, 2016.

Career

Meakin joined the Nine Network in 1973, where he worked for thirty years, eventually becoming director of current affairs in 1987 and the head of news and current affairs in 1993; he was credited with the ratings success of programs including '' Sunday'', '' 60 Minutes'' and '' A Current Affair''. He was awarded a

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 leadership in journalism in 2002. In April 2003, Meakin left the Nine Network acrimoniously to join the rival

, where former Nine managing director

David Leckie David John Leckie (4 May 195120 July 2021) was an Australian media manager, best known as a network television executive. Leckie was he the chief executive officer of the Network Nine between 1990 and 2001 and Seven West Media from 2003 to 2012 ...

had taken on the reins. There, he was instrumental in lifting Seven's news ratings on the east coast, and by 2007, ''Seven News'' had become the top-rating news service in each of the five major capital cities in Australia. In November 2012, Meakin resigned as director of news and current affairs of the Seven Network after nine years in the position with Rob Raschke named as his successor. Meakin remained with the network in an advisory role for some time. In February 2014, Meakin was poached by Network Ten to become their Executive Director of News and Current Affairs. He held the position until 2016, when he became news executive consultant, advising on the News at 5pm and ''The Project''. As per February 2018 he was back in charge of Network Ten news and current affairs.

Controversy

Meakin's decision to expose the secret gay life of a New South Wales government minister, David Campbell, on the Seven Network raised the ire of the general public with controversial reasons to "out him" in the public interest.

Drink driving

Meakin was subject to considerable media criticism following three serious drink driving offences committed in 2006 and 2007, resulting in a license suspension of eight years. Although he lost a District Court appeal against his third conviction for dangerous driving, he had his original sentence, 14 months of weekend detention, reduced to 250 hours of community service.

References

1942 births Living people Australian journalists English emigrants to Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal {{Australia-journalist-stub