Richard Alan Ackland is an Australian journalist, publisher and lawyer, who has won many awards for his reporting. Ackland graduated with degrees in economics and law in the early 1970s and was admitted as a solicitor of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

before going on to pursue a career in journalism.

Career

Ackland initially worked in the financial press and was appointed the Canberra correspondent for the '' Australian Financial Review'' during the 1970s. In 1986, he founded his law publishing company, Law Press of Australia, and since then has continued to be the publisher of two important Australian legal journals, ''

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

'' and the '' Gazette of Law and Journalism''. Moving to the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 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-own ...

(ABC) in the 1980s, Ackland was appointed the host of ''

Late Night Live ''Late Night Live'' is a radio program broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National and podcast and streamed over the World Wide Web. Since 1991, the program has been hosted by farmer, writer and public intellectual P ...

'' on ABC

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

. Subsequently he was host of the ABC Radio National breakfast program, ''Daybreak''. From 1998 to 1999, Ackland was the presenter of the ABC-TV show '' Media Watch''. During this time he was awarded a

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 ...

together with colleagues Deborah Richards and Anne Connolly for their expose of the notorious cash for comment affair. Ackland was the legal columnist for

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

and edited and published the online journal ''Justinian''. Ackland stopped being employed as a regular columnist by Fairfax in June 2014 to write for ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since ...

''. As of July 2014, Ackland is employed as the Legal Editor at Large at ''

Guardian Australia ''Guardian Australia'' is the Australian website of the British global online and print newspaper, ''The Guardian''. Available solely in an online format, the newspaper's launch was led by Katharine Viner in time for the 2013 Australian fed ...

''. In 2016 he was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Order (distinction), honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of Australia, Queen of Aus ...

for significant service to the print and television media industries, particularly through reporting on legal issues, and as a publisher. In September 2016 he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by Macquarie University.

References

External links

JustinianLaw Press of AustraliaFairfax press law columnRichard Ackland at saxton..com
Australian television presenters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of Australia Walkley Award winners {{australia-journalist-stub