ABC journalist and author, Leigh Sales AM, will deliver the 2023 Andrew Olle Media Lecture in Sydney on 27 October.
Leigh Sales (Photo: ABC)
The annual lecture is held in honour of one of the ABC’s most respected broadcasters, Andrew Olle, who died from cancer in 1995.
Previous speakers have included outgoing ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, Waleed Aly, Laurie Oakes, John Doyle and Jana Wendt.
The lecture will be delivered at a dinner in Sydney and broadcast nationally on ABC Radio’s Nightlife program from 11pm that evening.
Leigh Sales - until recently the presenter of the ABC’s flagship 7.30 program and now the presenter of ABC TV’s Australian Story – said journalism is at a juncture where “Andrew Olle’s values are more essential than ever – fairness, impartiality, accuracy, precision but even more than that, empathy and humility”.
“It’s an incredible honour to be asked to deliver this lecture in his shadow and to remember the best ways for journalism to win and hold the public’s trust,” she said.
ABC Managing Director, David Anderson, said Leigh’s extensive experience in Australia and overseas has given her “unique insights into the importance of public interest journalism across all media and the changing face of news and information brought about by the rise of social media”.
Tickets are available at Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2023 – ABC Sydney.
The lecture will also be made available on the ABC News channel and ABC iview, with times to be announced.
The ABC has also announced that Professor Michelle Simmons – a global leader in quantum computing - will deliver the 2023 Boyer Lecture series.
Professor Simmons’ four lectures will explore quantum physics, manufacturing at the atomic scale, women in science, and why Australia is perfectly positioned to build the world’s first error corrected quantum computer.
Professor Simmons is the CEO of Silicon Quantum Computing and the Director at the University of NSW Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.
Believing we are in the “space race of the computing era,” Professor Simmons and her team are aiming to build a quantum computer capable of solving complex problems in minutes. Such a computer could revolutionise drug design, weather forecasting, self-driving vehicles and artificial intelligence.
ABC Chair Ita Buttrose said Professor Simmons is an “inspirational scientific leader” who will discuss the revolution in atomic-scale manufacturing that is underway here in Australia.
The Boyer Lecture series, named after former ABC Chairman Sir Richard Boyer, is a series of lectures from a prominent Australian invited to express their thoughts on major social, cultural, scientific or political issues. The first lecture will screen live on ABC TV and ABC iview at 8pm on Thursday 19 October. ABC RN will broadcast the four lectures weekly from Sunday 22 October at 9.30am.
Sophie Arnold
E-news Editor