| Full name | Alan Belford Jones | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 13 April 1941 | ||
| Place of birth | Oakey, Queensland, Australia | ||
| School | Toowoomba Grammar School | ||
| University | Kelvin Grove Teachers College University of Queensland University of Oxford(non-degree course) |
||
| Occupation(s) | Radio presenter | ||
| Rugby league career | |||
| Teams coached | |||
| 1991–93 | Balmain Tigers | ||
| Rugby league career | |||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club / team | ||
| 1983 1984–87 |
Manly Marlins Wallabies |
||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Official website | |||
| Alan Jones at 2GB | |||
Alan Belford Jones AO (born 13 April 1941 (some sources also claim 1942 or 1943)[1][2]) is an Australian radio broadcaster, former rugby union and rugby league coach and administrator.
Jones hosts Sydney's most popular breakfast radio program, on radio station 2GB.[3] Like his former colleague and competitor John Laws, the popularity of Jones' program (a mixture of talkback, interviews, opinion and commercial endorsements) has made him one of Australia's most highly paid media personalities. Jones is highly politically motivated and sometimes uses his program and his popularity to advocate his conservative views; he has been described as one of the most influential broadcasters in Australia.[4][5]
His on-air conduct has attracted numerous adverse findings from Australia's media regulators, and one on-air incident resulted in Jones being charged with contempt of court. He would eventually be exonerated.[6][7]
In 2008, Jones' audience numbers began to slip, with strong competition from ABC Radio 702, though he retains his number one position with a slim margin.[8]
In July 2008 Jones underwent surgery for prostate cancer.[9] And in December 2008, he had surgery to remove a benign brain tumour.[10]
Jones was born and raised on a dairy farm near Oakey in south-east Queensland, and attended primary school at Acland state school,[11] before attending Toowoomba Grammar School as a boarder.
After leaving school, he trained as a teacher at the Kelvin Grove Teachers College (now part of the Queensland University of Technology) in Brisbane. After this training, in 1961 he taught first at a state primary school, then in 1963 won a position at the Brisbane Grammar School for boys. He was studying part-time at the University of Queensland for a Bachelor of Arts degree, which he was awarded in 1969.
In 1970, Jones was appointed Senior English Master at The King's School at Parramatta in Sydney's west, where he coached the rugby union side to victory in 1974. Jones was later asked to leave,.[12][13] Later that year, another parent at Kings, Doug Anthony, leader of the Country Party (now the National Party of Australia) in the Australian Parliament, offered Jones a position with the party in Canberra. The next year, he sought party preselection as the candidate for the parliamentary seat of Eden-Monaro, but he was unsuccessful at the election.
Jones went to Oxford University in 1977 to undertake a non-degree diploma course, distinct from the University's traditional graduate and undergraduate programmes. He excelled at tennis, in which he won a University Blue.
Returning to Australia, he was the candidate for the July 1978 by-election for the NSW state seat of Earlwood for the Liberal Party of Australia, formerly held by deposed Liberal leader Sir Eric Willis. The formerly safe seat was lost,[14] and Jones' antics at a Greek cultural event were called into question. Notwithstanding this he again contested the seat in the Liberal interest at the subsequent general election in October of the same year. This time the ALP candidate was returned with an even greater majority despite the absence, on this occasion, of a Gay Liberation and another three conservative party and independent candidates.[15] Jones then worked for several years as a speech writer for NSW Opposition leader John Mason, meanwhile standing for preselection for the Federal seat of North Sydney.
In 1979, Jones again moved to Canberra, where he was a speech writer for the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, until early 1981. He then moved back to Sydney to be Executive Director of the Employers' Federation of NSW, which he held until 1985.
1982 was the beginning of Jones' association with semi-professional rugby, firstly appointed as (part-time) manager of the NSW Rugby Union team. The next year he served as First Grade coach for the Manly Rugby Union team, which won the Premiership for the first time in 32 years.
In February 1984, Alan Jones replaced Bob Dwyer as coach of the Australian Rugby Union national team, and he was to coach the Australian team for 4 years with victories in 102 matches including 23 victories in 30 Tests, making him one of the more successful Australian coaches. The side included Mark Ella until his retirement, but quickly added Nick Farr-Jones and two Manly players Peter FitzSimons and James Black. Also in 1984, Australia's national team, the Wallabies, won the Grand Slam victories over England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and a side made up of the best players of those countries and France.
The 1986 Bledisloe Cup victory against New Zealand was the first time that had been achieved in six years, and only the third since 1949. Jones was awarded the Rostrum Speakers' Award as the Communicator of the Year, and named the 1985 Confederation of Australian Sport as Australia's Coach of the Year. However, Jones also pulled out of the Liberal preselection for the Federal Division of Wentworth in Sydney.
In 1988, Jones was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to Rugby Union football.[16] 1989 saw Jones elected to the Confederation of Australian Sports' Hall of Fame in recognition of his contribution to Australian Sport as the Australian Rugby Union coach.
In 1990, he switched codes,[17] being appointed coach of the Balmain Tigers rugby league football club, without accepting a fee. He resigned in July 1993 with these results: 1991 – 8 wins, 12th place; 1992 – 10 wins, 10th place; 1993 – five wins, 12th place. The next month he was appointed Director of Football for the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league football club, also without a fee.
In October 2007 Jones implied his interest in coaching the Wallabies after Queensland Rugby Chairman Peter Lewis suggested to the media he be the right person for the job. "If Peter Lewis and the Queensland Rugby Union – who have played a major role in Australian rugby for many years – are of the view I am the person who can make that contribution then I am obligated to put my hand up and say, 'Well if that is the case, I'm available'."[18]
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) on 14 December 2007 ruled Jones out of the coaching position, instead appointing New Zealand Crusaders coach Robbie Deans. ARU Chairman Peter McGrath however left the door open for a future position for Jones, saying there would "always be a place" for the former coach and radio broadcaster.
1985 saw Jones join Sydney radio station 2UE as the morning show host after John Laws left for 2GB. He moved to the 5.30am to 9.00am Breakfast slot in February 1988, and achieved the largest breakfast audience and also the largest radio audience in Australia.
His opening and closing theme music from both stations has been the hit Gloria by Laura Branigan, whom he met and was the inspiration for using the song.
In 1990–93 and 1995–97, Jones was awarded the title Australian Radio Talk Personality of the Year.[19]
In 2001, Jones was awarded both the Centenary Medal[20] and the Australian Sports Medal.[21] Both were awarded for his significant contributions to sport and the broadcasting industry.
In 2002, Jones joined 2GB as breakfast announcer, reportedly also taking a financial interest in the station. When passionate about a topic, he occasionally discusses it on air and during ad breaks with his panel operator Ross Geddes. Afternoon announcer, Philip Clark occasionally appears on Jones' show to show support to big news items. Jason Morrison is a daily contributor with two appearances to discuss news items and also filling in for Alan should he be on leave. Along with his radio show, he also did a segment making editorial comment on the Nine Network's Today.
In 2004, Jones received a Queen's Birthday Honour – an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) partly for his service to the media and sports' administration, but also helping many charities, including Youth off the Streets, the Children's Hospital, Starlight Children's Foundation, the Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation and the Heart Research Institute.[22]
On 6 June 2007, Jones ended his 7.15am editorial on Nine Network's Today. His last editorial was on 15 June.[23]
In 2011 Jones was the most listened to radio commentator in Sydney with an audience share of 19.2 per cent.[24]
In December 1988, Jones was arrested in a public lavatory in London's West End. He was initially charged with two counts of outraging public decency, but was later granted bail and charges were dropped.[25]
For a time until 1990, Jones had been writing for The Sun-Herald but it announced that Jones' column would no longer appear following a petition by staff calling for his removal as a contributor. This followed Jones' publication of a column predicting an oil crisis, in which a large amount of material had been taken from Frederick Forsyth's novel 'The Negotiator' without attribution or indication that their source was a work of fiction.[26] Following his dismissal, Jones was hired by the Sun-Herald's rival paper, the Sunday Telegraph.
Later that year, Jones in his role with 2UE was ordered by a court to pay more than $55,000 damages for defaming David Parker, a former councillor of the NRMA, the NSW Motorists' organisation; 2UE was also ordered to pay $80,000. Parker claimed he was defamed during the NRMA election campaign in October 1986. July 1991 had Jones commenting during a conspiracy to murder trial, of Tom Domican and two others; about the key crown witness, a self-confessed heroin smuggler, Jones said, "Why is he the witness and not the defendant?" Contempt is not proved; what Jones did is said to be "dangerous".
1992 brought several events:
1993 was another year of controversy:
1994 also had its moments:
In 1998 Jones claimed on-air that rugby league referee Bill Harrigan was biased. Harrigan sued Jones for defamation and, in 2001, was awarded damages of $90,000.[28]
In the late 1990s, Jones suffered more public humiliation when unedited studio recordings of pre-recorded material he had taped at 2UE were leaked to the ABC radio station Triple J.[29]
In 2008 Jones was found to have defamed Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates in comments Jones made regarding Coates' handling of an incident involving rower Sally Robbins' performance at the 2004 Olympics.[30]
Between 1999 and 2000, the Cash for comment investigation was conducted. Jones had been accused of contracting to have personal commercial support in exchange for favourable "unscripted" comments, principally for Telstra and Qantas, during his radio show. The independent Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV show, Media Watch, was heavily involved in exposing these practices. The Australian Broadcasting Authority finally decided that disclosure had to be made, hence the "Commercial Agreement Register" at the Jones portion of his station's web site. (Jones was investigated along with John Laws from 2UE.)
In April 2004, another scandal broke after it was revealed the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, David Flint, who had headed the Cash for comment inquiries, had sent a stream of admiring letters to Alan Jones.[31] This called into question the impartiality of Flint, and the then Federal Minister for Communications, Daryl Williams, was embroiled in media speculation as to the future of Flint. With an inquiry imminent, Flint resigned. In an appearance on the ABC's Enough Rope, John Laws accused Jones of placing pressure on Prime Minister John Howard to keep Flint as head of the ABA, made comments that many viewers took to imply a sexual relationship between Jones and Flint and broadly hinted that Jones was homosexual like Flint, who is openly gay.[32]
In December 2005, in the lead-up to the Cronulla riots, Jones used his breakfast radio program to read out and discuss a widely-circulated text message calling on people to "Come to Cronulla this weekend to take revenge... get down to North Cronulla to support the Leb and wog bashing day", which was similarly discussed in the wider media including on the front page of publications like the Sydney Morning Herald. Media commentator David Marr accused Jones of inciting racial tensions and implicitly encouraging violence and vigilantism by the manner of his responses to callers even while he was verbally disapproving of them taking the law into their own hands.
On 10 April 2007, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that the broadcaster 2GB and Jones had broadcast material (specifically comments made by Jones between 5–9 December 2005) that was likely to encourage violence or brutality and to vilify people of Lebanese and Middle-Eastern backgrounds on the basis of ethnicity.[33][34][35] During his on-air rebuttal of the ACMA findings on 10 April 2007, Jones stated that by referring to his show as "Breakfast with Alan Jones", the ACMA had little credibility as his show was actually known as "The Alan Jones Show". However, the 2GB website prior to this broadcast clearly showed the Jones program as being "Breakfast with Alan Jones",[36] this was changed after the broadcast of Jones' rebuttal to be "Alan Jones Show".[37]
Once again, David Flint leapt to Jones' defence by appearing on Jones' morning show "to support his friend and to condemn the process that found him guilty. He told 2GB listeners that the vigilante movement existed at Cronulla long before Jones began broadcasting and that the ACMA findings amounted to a classic case of shoot the messenger. He said the complaints process was flawed because, unlike the Press Council, Jones could not face or question his accusers".[38]
The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal upheld a complaint of racial vilification against Jones and 2GB on 21 December 2009.[39] The tribunal said:[40]
His comments about “Lebanese males in their vast numbers” hating Australia and raping, pillaging and plundering the country, about a “national security” crisis, and about the undermining of Australian culture by “vermin” were reckless hyperbole calculated to agitate and excite his audience without providing them with much in the way of solid information.
Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones (Allen & Unwin), is an unauthorised biography of Jones by Australian journalist Chris Masters.
Extracts of the book published in The Sydney Morning Herald concentrated largely on Jones's sexuality, questionable behaviour while Senior English Master at The King's School and the "cottaging" incident in a London public toilet. The book claims that Jones is a homosexual and that his denial of this is "a defining feature of the Jones persona".[41]
Jones was originally convicted of breaching the Children's (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), by broadcasting the suppressed name of a juvenile witness in a murder trial.[6]
The deputy chief magistrate, Helen Syme, criticised Jones for not issuing an on-air apology to the boy he had named, and said that Jones' offence was "serious". The magistrate placed Jones on a nine month good-behaviour bond, fined him $1000.[6]
Outside the court, Jones said, "The court found it was not a simple mistake. My view does not count."[6]
In February 2008 Jones lost an appeal against his conviction. His lawyers told the judge they would be challenging the penalty at a future date.[42]
On 27 March 2008, Jones's criminal conviction was quashed. The judge presiding over the appeal, Judge Michael Finnane, said: "While it was no excuse from liability in law that Mr Jones relied on The Daily Telegraph, the fact that he did, to some extent ameliorates the seriousness of the offence."[7] The judge confirmed Jones' guilt, but dismissed the charge and annulled the conviction.[43]
On Wednesday 18 October 2007 it was revealed that NSW State Coroner Mary Jerram was referring Jones and The Daily Telegraph to the NSW Supreme Court for comments made the Friday earlier relating to the inquest into the death of Private Jake Kovco. Jones claimed that assisting counsel John Agius had unfairly attempted to persuade Kovco's mother into refusing a jury inquest, comments which Jerram stated could prejudice the inquest.[44]
Alan Jones has personally endorsed two failed businesses, the Ronald Coles investment gallery (an art investment group), and Fincorp (a high-yield interest property investment company) which Jones described as a "great Australian company".[45] Both companies have since folded under suspicious circumstances, leaving many of their backers with significant financial loss.[46]
An episode of the ABC's Media Watch was devoted to Alan Jones' pre-trial comments supportive of three soldiers charged over an incident in Afghanistan, including one soldier charged with manslaughter. The comments were seen to be 'in contempt of court' but as the court had not yet been convened at the time of the comments, Jones could not be charged.[47] He also vilified Brigadier McDade.[47] [48]
Despite claiming that he never dealt with the "personal", Jones made several statements in 2011 suggesting that his political opponents should be violently treated. On June 29 he said of the Lord Mayor of Sydney ... "put her in the same chaff bag as Julia Gillard and throw them both out to sea" and about Greens leader Bob Brown ... "The woman's [Julia Gillard] off her tree and quite frankly they should shove her and Bob Brown in a chaff bag and take them as far out to sea as they can and tell them to swim home." Also in February 2011 Jones called the Prime Minister "Ju-liar" over the federal government's then announcement of a new carbon tax policy in an on-air discussion with the pair. He also berated her for being 10 minutes late for his program. [49]. These comments were widely reported and attracted condemnation from media commentators including Jonathan Holmes on Media Watch.
On 25 November 2011 the Australian Communications and Media Authority found that Jones had breached the commercial radio code of practice in his reporting of environmental issues. His reporting was found to lack accuracy and failing to allow other viewpoints to be heard. A decision on the penalty for this breach was reserved. [50]
Jones is currently (December 2011) being sued by health bureaucrat Terry Clout over comments made by Jones in March 2009.[51]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bob Dwyer 1982–1984 |
Coach Australian Wallabies 1984–1987 |
Succeeded by Bob Dwyer 1988–1996 |
| Preceded by Warren Ryan 1988–1990 |
Coach Balmain Tigers 1991–1993 |
Succeeded by Wayne Pearce 1994–1999 |
| Preceded by ? ? |
Coach Manly Marlins 1983 |
Succeeded by ? ? |
|
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