Steve Cannane

Stephen Paul "Steve" Cannane (born 1970) is a news journalist and current affairs reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He currently presents The Drum on ABC News 24 and is a reporter on Lateline.

He started as a reporter for radio Triple J's current affairs The Morning Show. In 2003, after Francis Leach left the station, Cannane took on the position of host of the show. As a journalist, Cannane has an interest in exposing unscrupulous behaviour, having reported on child abuse within the Church of Scientology,^[1] the harassment of the parents of a deceased child by the anti-vaccination lobby and the failure of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to protect consumers from dodgy products.^[2]

He temporarily presented breakfast on ABC Radio National while the regular presenter pursued other projects.

Cananne was the founding presenter of Triple j’s current affairs program Hack beginning in 2004. In 2006 he won the Walkley Award for Broadcast Interviewing for a series of three interviews - Petrol Sniffing, Pilltesting and The Cost of War while he was also commended in the same category of the Walkleys in 2005.

In 2006 Steve won the Excellence in Alcohol and Drug Media Reporting Award^[3] at the National Drug and Alcohol Awards and visited the US as the Australian representative on the US Department of State's Edward R Murrow program for journalists.^[4]

In 2008, Cannane presented The Hack Half Hour^[5] on ABC2.

In 2009, he fronted the ABC1 documentary series Whatever! The Science of Teenagers^[6] and he also published a book First Tests: Great Australian Cricketers and the Backyards That Made Them.^[7]

In July 2010, Cannane was appointed presenter of ABC News 24's The Drum - a panel discussion program providing news and analysis on issues of the day.

Also in July 2010, Cannane broke the story of harassment of the parents of a child who died of whooping cough by the anti-vaccination lobby,^[8] the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) on Lateline. His story was the first to expose the lobby group as callous and cruel, with revelations that their President Meryl Dorey, had sought to access medical records of the child as evidence she had died from a pertussis infection. The story also described a complaint about the AVN which was under investigation by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission, alleging the group disseminated misleading and dangerous health information regarding vaccination. The complaint was eventually upheld, resulting in revokation of the groups charity licence and the issuing of a public warning by the HCCC. Both these actions were overturned following a successful Supreme Court challenge by the AVN in 2011.^[9]

Cannane has continued to follow the AVN, most recently discussing the appearance of Dorey at the woodford festival on the Drum^[10]

In November 2010 he was recognised^[11] for "...his honest and diligent approach to journalism and the pursuit of truth in all of its aspects and wherever it may lead" at the Australian Skeptics National Convention where he was also a speaker.^[12]

He is also a reporter and fill in presenter on ABC1's late night news and current affairs program, Lateline and has appeared on Ten's The 7PM Project.

References