Simon Robinson has been appointed the ABC’s subsequent director of stories, turning into the primary exterior rent to fill the place in a long time.
Managing director Hugh Marks introduced the appointment in an e mail to ABC workers on Thursday, saying, “Simon Robinson is likely one of the most skilled and revered newsroom leaders in international journalism.”
“His monitor file main giant, complicated information operations and his deep dedication to truth‑primarily based reporting make him an impressive selection to guide the ABC’s Information division,” Mr Marks stated.
Robinson replaces Justin Stevens who resigned on Wednesday after 4 years within the position citing “each skilled and private” causes.
At the moment primarily based in London, Robinson is deputy to the editor-in-chief at information service Reuters. He has been with the organisation for 16 years, holding numerous senior roles.
Robinson started his profession as a reporter and fact-checker with Who Weekly in Sydney, earlier than spending 15 years at Time the place he labored as a correspondent, bureau chief and editor.
In his LinkedIn biography, Robinson stated he had “years of expertise as a newsroom chief and dealing on technique”.
“I can reshape a information story or remodel an organisation alike,”
he stated.
“Because the deputy to Reuters editor-in-chief, I assist handle a newsroom of two,600 professionals and spearhead our digital and publishing initiatives which assist form information seen by billions of individuals all over the world day by day.”
In a press release to the ABC, Robinson stated he was “thrilled and honoured to be named the ABC’s director of stories and present affairs”.
“As a passionate believer within the energy of fact-based, impartial journalism, I consider the ABC performs a pivotal position in offering Australians with the dependable reporting all of us want.
“I grew up listening to and watching ABC Information. It appeared ever-present in my childhood dwelling. On a private notice, I’m delighted this position brings me dwelling, amongst household and pals.”
Mr Marks declined to touch upon studies of Robinson’s appointment in Senate estimates earlier on Thursday.
He confirmed the incoming information director had been chosen after a hiring course of run by an exterior supplier.
Nevertheless, he stated he had met “many senior information folks all over the world” over the previous six months as a part of an “casual course of” and had interviewed a “variety of candidates”.
“Inner candidates have been thought of, however we felt {that a} globally skilled government is the suitable factor at this cut-off date for the ABC,” he stated.
Hugh Marks stated the alternative of the ABC’s information director supplied the organisation a chance to refresh and rejuvenate. (ABC Information: Toby Hunt)
Requested why Stevens had resigned, Mr Marks advised Senate estimates that Stevens “felt it was the suitable time for him to maneuver on and pursue different careers”.
“It is a troublesome position, the pinnacle of stories on the ABC. I believe after 4 years and with intense scrutiny … I believe Stevens felt it was the suitable time,” he stated.
“I believe it is a chance for the ABC to enter into a brand new section of our output for what may be the subsequent 20 years, to ensure we’re match for the long run.”
In a farewell e mail to ABC workers on Wednesday, his final day, Stevens stated: “There isn’t any extra complicated information organisation within the nation, no extra scrutinised establishment, and few so laden with public expectations.”
“In that context, I’ve sought to strengthen and defend our journalism with out being blind to our stumbles; to satisfy the state of fixed change within the digital age; and to enhance our tradition in Information to 1 the place we maintain ourselves to the identical requirements as we do of others within the broader group,” he stated.
Stevens had labored on the ABC for 15 years earlier than being appointed director of stories, together with as government producer of the ABC’s flagship nightly present affairs program 7.30 and as a producer at 4 Corners.
Appointed by Mr Marks’s predecessor David Anderson in 2022, Stevens, simply 37 on the time, beat out numerous extra senior candidates to grow to be the ABC’s high information government.
Bringing in an out of doors voice
Robinson’s appointment marks a big change in course for the ABC which has beforehand promoted Information division leaders from inside.
The final time an outsider was introduced in to guide a big portion of that division was within the early Nineties when former Fairfax chief government Chris Anderson was employed to move TV information and present affairs.
That place predated the merger of the ABC’s TV and radio information divisions, in addition to the whole digital information operation which launched in 1997.
Since then, the place has sometimes gone to skilled journalists and editors from inside the Information division, which at the moment employs about 2,000 folks throughout Australia.
Along with being the ABC’s largest division, Information can be arguably essentially the most extremely scrutinised, with the ABC’s taxpayer-funded standing making it topic to freedom of data laws, authorities oversight, together with estimates hearings, and intense criticism from business networks.
Throughout his time as information director, Stevens oversaw a interval of change for the broadcaster, together with an overhaul of the ABC Information web site and branding, the axing of legacy program Q+A, and an emphasis on digital-first reporting.
Political panel present Q+A was cancelled in mid-2025 after 18 years on the air. (ABC Information)
The ABC was persistently the primary information web site within the nation in the direction of the tip of his tenure, and the viewers for the nightly 7pm information broadcasts had grown.
Nevertheless, he was additionally compelled to navigate numerous controversies, together with the resignation of high-profile host Stan Grant, which sparked a evaluate of racism on the ABC.
In 2024 he issued an apology on behalf of the ABC for the incorrect use of gunshot audio and the doubtless deceptive use of a quote as a part of a sequence of 2022 studies into the warfare in Afghanistan titled Line of Fireplace.
As a part of the broader ABC government, he additionally grappled with the controversial dismissal of Antoinette Lattouf by the content material division and a historic strike that noticed 1000’s of ABC staff stroll off the job.
Robinson will begin with the ABC in September.
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