Richard Ackland is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, publisher and lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, 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 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 and the Gazette of Law and Journalism.

Moving to the ABC in the 1980s, Ackland was appointed the host Late Night Live on ABC Radio National. Subsequently he was host of the ABC Radio National breakfast program, Daybreak.

From 1998 to 1998, Ackland was the presenter of the ABC-TV show Media Watch (TV program). During this time, he was awarded a Gold Walkley

Gold Walkley

The Gold Walkley is the most prestigious of the Walkley Awards for Australian journalism. It is chosen by the Walkley Advisory Board from the winners of all the other categories...

 (Australian journalism's most prestigious award) together with colleagues Deborah Richards

Deborah Richards

Deborah Richards is an award winning Australian journalist, of English descent from the Edwards family. Richards has worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Essential Viewing Group, and Special Broadcasting Service.-Life:...

 and Anne Connolly, for their expose of the notorious Cash for comment affair

Cash for comment affair

The cash for comment affair was an Australian scandal that broke in 1999, concerning paid advertising in radio that is presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary. John Laws, a shock jock radio presenter for Sydney talk back, was accused of misusing his authority...

.

Ackland is currently the Legal Columnist for Fairfax Media and continues to edit and publish the online journal Justinian.

External links

• http://www.justinian.com.au Justinian
• http://www.lawpress.com.au, Law Press of Australia
• http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/by/richard-ackland, Fairfax press law column