Ita Buttrose Will Deliver 2022 Andrew Olle Media Lecture

The Andrew Olle Media Lecture will be delivered by ABC Chair Ita Buttrose AC OBE in 2022, the national broadcaster’s 90th anniversary year.

The talk, which has been on hold for the past two years owing to COVID-19, will take place on Friday, June 17 in Sydney.

Ita Buttrose is Australia’s most well-known and influential media executive, as well as the country’s most recognised female journalist.

Ita has a background in the media. Charles, her father, was a well-known editor and war journalist who subsequently rose to become the ABC’s Deputy Manager.

Ita began her career as a copygirl for The Australian Women’s Weekly, which she eventually edited. She was the first woman to be appointed editor of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph newspapers in the 1980s, and she was the founding editor of Cleo magazine in 1972. In 2013, she received the Australian of the Year award, and in 2017, she was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

She is a founder member of Chief Executive Women and its previous president, as well as a patron of Dementia Australia and the Macular Disease Foundation, and an Emeritus Director of Arthritis Australia.

Ita said:

“Andrew Olle was for many Australians the gold standard of broadcasting, a trusted and much-loved journalist whose programs and broadcasts were not to be missed.

“I was proud to call him a friend and I am honoured to deliver the lecture that not only carries his name but that also celebrates the journalism he stood by.  This has extra significance given the ABC’s own 90^th anniversary celebrations.”

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Managing Director of the ABC, David Anderson, said there was no-one more fitting to deliver the Andrew Olle Media Lecture in the ABC’s 90^th year than one of the greats of the Australian media industry.

He said:

“Ita is synonymous with success in the Australian media, having held some of the most senior roles in newspapers, television, radio and magazines. She has made a huge contribution to the evolution of media in this country and as Chair of the ABC, continues to provide unparalleled leadership.

“I have no doubt that Ita’s 2022 Andrew Olle Media Lecture will be an insightful, revealing, thought-provoking and personal look at the role the fourth estate plays in Australia and where its heading.”

Previous Andrew Olle Media Lecture speakers include Peter FitzSimons, Lisa Wilkinson, Caroline Wilson, Joseph Kahn, Waleed Aly, Helen McCabe, Kate McClymont, Mark Colvin, Laurie Oakes, Ray Martin AM, John Hartigan, John Doyle AM, Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Stokes AC and Jana Wendt.

The lecture is held in honour of one of the ABC’s iconic broadcasters, Andrew Olle. It will be delivered at a black-tie dinner at The Ivy Ballroom in Sydney on Friday 17 June. The evening will be hosted by ABC Radio Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover.

Tickets are available at: andrewolle2022.eventbrite.com.au.

The Andrew Olle Media Lecture will be broadcast nationally on ABC Radio’s Nightlife from 11.00pm on Friday 17 June. The lecture will also be available on the ABC NEWS channel and ABC iview, with times to be announced.