Barrie Cassidy

Barrie Cassidy
Born 4 March 1950 (1950-03-04) (age 61)
Wangaratta, Victoria
Occupation Journalist
Known for Political journalist, TV presenter and commentator

Barrie Cassidy (born 4 March 1950) is a veteran Australian political journalist.[1]

Cassidy was born in Wangaratta and grew up in the Victorian town of Chiltern, attending Rutherglen High School. He had many brothers and an elder sister, and grew up with a love of football and sports. Starting his career as a cadet on the Albury Border Morning Mail in 1969,[1] he moved to the Shepparton News about a year later before being hired as a court reporter for the Melbourne Herald. Joining the ABC Network, he initially covered state politics. He moved to Canberra to become the ABC's federal political correspondent for radio and television in 1979.

In 1986, Cassidy was approached by the then Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, to become his personal press secretary. He remained in the job—which he has described as "the most rewarding and interesting period of my life"—until Paul Keating took over the leadership in 1991 following a challenge.[1]

Moving to Washington, Cassidy worked as a correspondent for The Australian (a News Corporation newspaper) before returning to Australia to host the Last Shout and Meet the Press programs on Network Ten.[2] Cassidy returned to the ABC to replace Paul Lyneham as host on The 7.30 Report[3] before he, his daughter and his wife (Heather Ewart) were sent to Brussels as European correspondents.[4]

In 2010, Cassidy wrote The Party Thieves: the real story of the 2010 election (Melbourne University Press, October 2010, ISBN 978-0-522-85780-1), which one reviewer called "the standard text on precisely what happened in 2010."[5]

Cassidy currently hosts the Sunday morning political discussion show Insiders,[2][6] the sports panel show Offsiders and was until recently hosting the morning show ABC News Breakfast. He stepped down from his role as host of Offsiders to write The Party Thieves. He has a keen interest in horseracing, and is a devout fan of Collingwood in the Australian Football League. Cassidy is also a keen jogger, running almost every day. [7] Cassidy appeared as himself in the first episode of the 1998 Australia television series The Games.

Media offices
Preceded by
program started		 ABC News Breakfast
Co-host with Virginia Trioli
3 November 2008 - January 2009		 Succeeded by
Joe O'Brien
Preceded by
program started		 Insiders
Host
2001-		 Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
program started		 Offsiders
Host
2005-		 Succeeded by
incumbent

References

  1. ^ a b c O'Connor, Shaunagh (25 March 2006). "Barrie Cassidy, political journalist". Sunday Times: p. 39. 
  2. ^ a b Kent, Melissa (17 July 2003). "Chatalong Cassidy". The West Australian. 
  3. ^ Conway, Andrew (26 December 1995). "Channelling". Sydney Morning Herald: p. 2. 
  4. ^ Johnston, Tony (14 July 2002). "Bringing politics home". Herald Sun. 
  5. ^ Tony Wright (20-Nov-2010). "Making sense of election madness". The Age. http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=AGE101120QG3QHMP3LGM. 
  6. ^ Overington, Caroline (15 July 2001). "Host with the most to lose". The Age: p. 11. 
  7. ^ Blackburn, Nick (14 May 2006). "The all-rounder of Sunday mornings". The Courier-Mail: p. 12. 

External links