Greg Sheridan

Greg Sheridan (Murdoch-press journalist)
Nationality	Australian
Member of	AIJAC/Rambam Programs/2010, AIJAC/Rambam Programs/2012, Australian American Leadership Dialogue, Australian Institute of International Affairs
Interests	• narrative management • anti-communism

Greg Sheridan is an influential Australian journalist and Foreign Editor with the Rupert Murdoch-owned The Australian. He has ties to the Integrity Initiative.

Early life

Sheridan grew up in Sydney, attending Macquarie University and the University of Sydney but did not graduate.

The Vietnam War became a focus for Sheridan as he completed his secondary education at St Pius X College, in Sydney. He was a passionate supporter of the Australian military commitment, which he hoped would ‘save South Vietnam’ and combat the danger of communism spreading in South-East Asia.

Sheridan and his family and friends were concerned at the prospect of a Whitlam government: they believed it would be under communist influence through the trade unions.

He was active in the Young Christian Students movement and an enthusiastic recruit to (CIA-asset) Bob Santamaria’s National Civic Council. He admired Santamaria’s vigorous leadership and the NCC’s collaborative relationship with the Australian intelligence service ASIO and its anti-communist contacts throughout South-East Asia.

Journalism

Greg Sheridan entered journalism at the Bulletin magazine in 1979 and joined the right wing establishment newspaper The Australian in 1984, serving as Beijing correspondent and Washington correspondent. After working in the Canberra press gallery, he became the paper’s foreign editor, also specializing in security policy, in 1992, the position he holds today.

He has held numerous think tank positions as a Visiting Fellow, including at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars in Washington DC, and at the Australian Army’s Land Warfare Studies Centre, Canberra. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne and board member at the Australian Government’s Australia Indonesia Institute. He has written seven books and is Contributing Editor at Washington-based journal, the National Interest. He is active across TV and radio and his work has appeared widely in international publications.

Connections

Sheridan is a close friend of former Australian PM Tony Abbott. They have been connected since their time together at Sydney University, where the two attended the Australian Union of Students annual conference in Melbourne together in 1977. Abbott considered appointing him to a diplomatic post, the role of high commissioner to Singapore, before the 2013 election.

In his book Hidden Agendas, journalist John Pilger accuses Sheridan of being a "reliable ally" of the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia while serving as the foreign editor of The Australian. In particular, Pilger derided Sheridan's defense of Indonesia following the Clinton administration's critique of Suharto's human rights records, as well as the Australian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee following its confirmation of the Santa Cruz Massacre. Sheridan stated that "even genuine victims frequently concoct stories".

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Halifax International Security Forum/2011	18 November 2011	20 November 2011	Halifax Nova Scotia Canada	Spooky conference in Canada in November 2010

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Integrity Initiative Weekly Report 16th to 22nd July 2018	report	22 July 2018	Euan Grant	input into media documentaries and fictional entertainment, including specific topics

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