Sarah Ferguson (journalist)

Ferguson was born in Lagos, Nigeria, where her British-born parents lived. The family moved to Britain as the Biafran war broke out, and Ferguson studied English literature at King's College, London. She married fellow journalist and radio and TV presenter Tony Jones in 1993 and they have three sons (one from a previous relationship of Jones).[1]

In 2017, as Ferguson was getting off a plane, she was told her mother had died suddenly in England. Later she became aware that hospital negligence had led to her mother's death. She would write about that experience in her book 'On Mother.' [3]

Ferguson began her career in journalism in Britain, writing arts reviews for The Independent before moving to France where she worked for the BBC. In Australia, apart from her ABC career, Ferguson has worked for the SBS programs Dateline and Insight as a reporter and producer.[1][4] She won the Gold Walkley Award in 2011 for her work on the Four Corners investigation "A Bloody Business" into cruelty to animals in Indonesian abattoirs.[5]

Killing Season

In 2015, Ferguson presented The Killing Season, a three-part documentary series which analysed the events of the Kevin Rudd / Julia Gillard Government of 2007–2013, a turbulent period of Australian political history. Ferguson interviewed the Australian Labor Party decision-makers and strategists who engaged in internal conflict that brought down a government which had successfully countered the post-2008 global financial crisis. The series won the AACTA award for documentary in 2015.

Hitting Home

In 2015, Ferguson presented Hitting Home, reporting from the frontline of Australia's domestic violence crisis. The series won Best Documentary at the 2016 AACTA Awards[6] and the Walkley Documentary Award.

The Siege

In May 2017, Ferguson presented The Siege, a two-part special investigating the siege at the Lindt cafe, Martin Place, Sydney. Ferguson interviewed the families of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson and the surviving hostages and examined how authorities had failed to comprehend the risk posed by hostage taker Man Haron Monis.[7][8]

Trump/Russia

In June 2018, Ferguson presented and produced a Four Corners three-part series on US President Donald Trump and his connections to Russia. There series was filmed over several months in the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia.[9]

Revelation

In 2018, Ferguson started working on Revelation, a three part documentary series for ABC about the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.[10] Revelation aired on ABC on 17 March, 31 March and 2 April.[11] In 'Goliath,' the third episode of Revelation, Ferguson interviewed two men, identified as Bernie and Peter Clarke, who accused Australian Cardinal George Pell of sexually abusing them as boys when he served the Diocese of Ballarat and investigated their accusations. The alleged sexual abuse occurred when Pell spent time at the Catholic orphanage where the men resided in the 1970s.

Following Pell's acquittal and subsequent release from Barwon Prison, the producers temporarily removed the third episode of the series to include these developments before restoring the episode to the ABC iView platform.[12] ABC also released a statement which stood by the program's content, stating “The ABC has – and will continue to – report accurately and without fear or favour on stories that are in the public interest, including this one.” [12] On 13 April 2020, police began an investigation of the sex abuse allegations discussed in Revelation.[13]

• 2008 – Buying Back The River
• 2009 – Code of Silence [14]
• 2011 – A Bloody Business [15]
• 2012 – Growing Up Poor [16]
• 2012 – Another Bloody Business [17]
• 2013 – Trading Misery [18]
• 2015 – The Killing Season
• 2015 – Hitting Home
• 2016 – The Leaders [19]
• 2017 – The Siege [7]
• 2018 - Trump/Russia [20]
• 2018 - Bitter End [21]
• 2019 - Revelation

• Ferguson, Sarah (2016), On Mother, Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Publishing, ISBN 978-0-522-87408-2
• Ferguson, Sarah; Drum, Patricia, (authors.) (2016), The killing Season Uncut, Melbourne University Publishing, ISBN 978-0-522-86995-8CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Carlton, Victoria : Melbourne University Publishing

• ABC profile - Sarah Ferguson