Margo Kingston

Margo Kingston (born 1959) is an Australian political journalist who formerly worked for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Related Topics:
1959 - Australia - Journalist - The Sydney Morning Herald

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Kingston was born in Maryborough, Queensland and grew up in Mackay. After graduating from the University of Queensland with a degree in arts and law, she practised as a solicitor in Brisbane and lectured in commercial law in Rockhampton before becoming a journalist for The Courier-Mail, now Brisbane's only daily newspaper. Within a year she moved to The Times on Sunday (a now-defunct national newspaper) and has since worked for The Age, The Canberra Times and A Current Affair, a nightly current events programme on the Nine network.

Related Topics:
Maryborough, Queensland - Mackay - University of Queensland - Arts - Law - Brisbane - Rockhampton - The Courier-Mail - The Times on Sunday - The Age - The Canberra Times - A Current Affair - Nine network

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Kingston achieved prominence in 1998 when she led a sit-in of journalists at the federal election campaign launch of the One Nation Party in the Queensland town of Gatton— the journalists were unhappy with the party's treatment of the media during the campaign. Her experiences during this election campaign are recorded in her book, Off The Rails: The Pauline Hanson Trip.

Related Topics:
1998 - One Nation Party - Gatton

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Though Kingston is openly left-of-centre in her political leanings, she is respected by some on the other side of politics for her political journalism. She currently confines herself primarily to opinion pieces though she occasionally writes news reports on Australian politics. She also writes Webdiary, which until August 22, 2005 was on the Herald website, in which she and contributors from the general public record their opinions on current events. This also has a leftist slant, reinforced by what has been attacked as nepotism in appointing her leftist brother Hamish Alcorn as a moderator. Margo Kingston terminated her contract with John Fairfax Holdings, publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald in August 2005. Temporary digs were set up at www.webdiary.com.au whilst creation of a new open source based site continues.

Related Topics:
Left-of-centre - August 22 - 2005 - Nepotism - John Fairfax Holdings

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She incorporated many opinions featured in Webdiary into her 2004 book Not Happy, John, which inspired the 'Not happy John!' campaign, of which she is a founding member. Kingston is also a regular guest on Late Night Live, a nightly radio programme on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National network.

Related Topics:
2004 - 'Not happy John!' campaign - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Radio National

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