Suzanne Dredge

Suzanne Dredge is an Australian Walkley Award-winning journalist.

Suzanne Dredge
Alma materWestern Sydney University (BComm)
Occupationjournalist
Years active2011 to present
Known forBecoming the first Head of Indigenous News at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Television7.30, Four Corners

She is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Head of Indigenous News.[1][2] Dredge is a Wiradjuri women.[2]

Early life

Dredge grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney.[2] Her mother who worked in a turkey factory to support Dredge and her three siblings who all lived in public housing.[2] Dredge has said some of her fondest memories are of her father taking her out onto country and teaching her survival techniques to live off the land such as finding food and water while also instilling a special cultural connection to country.[2]

Dredge dropped out of school at 16.[2] By the age of 23, she was a mother of three children and was in a violent relationship. After deciding to leave the relationship, Dredge enrolled in a course at TAFE where she studied youth work.[2]

Career

After working as a youth worker and encountering a range of social issues affecting marginalised communities, Dredge was reminded of her childhood ambitions of becoming a journalist to expose social injustice.[2]

In 2010, she enrolled as a mature age student at Western Sydney University in a Bachelor of Communications majoring in journalism, becoming the first person in her family to attend university.[2] She graduated in 2013.[3]

While at university, she applied for internships and pitched stories to local newspapers which resulted in Dredge having a front-page story in the local Macarthur newspaper.[2] She also obtained a job with Koori Radio where she worked from 2012 to 2013, producing the station's talkback program Blackchat.[2][3]

Dredge joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2011 as an intern before becoming a researcher with the national reporting team. in 2013[2][4]

She then worked as a producer for ABC Investigations and as a supervising producer on 7.30, while also overseeing the program's indigenous coverage.[2] Dredge's reports for ABC Investigations on 7.30 and Four Corners saw Dredge travel to the Middle East on various high risk assignments.[2] Her reporting in the Middle East included covering Islamic State and investigating Australians who fought with al-Qaeda-linked groups in Iraq and Syria.[5]

In 2022, Dredge was the first person to ever be appointed to Head of Indigenous News at the ABC, to lead an Indigenous reporting team who were given a remit to amplify and expand the ABC's coverage of Indigenous issues including the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.[2][6]

In 2023, the ABC received criticism from Q+A host Stan Grant (son of Wiradjuri elder Stan Grant) about the lack of diversity during the coverage of the 2023 New South Wales state election, which included an all-white panel on election night.[7] In response, the ABC's news director Justin Stevens admitted the organisation needed to continue making improvements in achieving diversity but highlighted Dredge's appointment, and that of Dan Bourchier as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament correspondent, as examples of progress the ABC was making.[8]

Awards

Dredge has been recognised with a number of awards throughout her career including three Walkley Awards.

At the 2015 Walkley Awards, Dredge (along with Matt Brown and Mathew Marsic) won the Walkley for Best TV/AV Daily Current Affairs for the 7.30 story "Enslaved by Aussie Jihadis."[9]

In 2019, Dredge (along with reporter Dylan Welch, cinematographer David Maguire and producer Janine Cohen) won the Walkey Award in the Television/Video: Current Affairs Long category for the report "Orphans of ISIS".[10]

Also in 2019, Dredge (along with Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop and Lesley Robinson) won the Les Kennedy Award at the Kennedy Awards for Outstanding Crime Reporting.[11]

In 2020, Dredge (along with reporter Dylan Welch, visual journalist Alex Palmer and digital journalist Clare Blumer) won the Walkley Award in the All Media: Innovation category for "Anatomy of a suicide bombing".[12]

Dredge, part of the first female Indigenous Four Corners reporting team, won the Gold Quill at the 2023 Quill Awards for their investigation into the issue of femicide experienced by First Nations women in Australia, with a report entitled "How many more?".[13][14][15] Dredge along with Bridget Brennan, Brooke Fryer and Stephanie Zillman also won the Quill Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs reporting for their work.[15]

References
  1. "Suzanne Dredge appointed ABC News Head, Indigenous News". About the ABC. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 November 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  2. Johnson, Natasha (16 December 2022). "Backstory: ABC journalist Suzanne Dredge shares her story of overcoming adversity to become the first Head of Indigenous News". ABC News. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  3. "Suzanne Dredge - Head, Indigenous News, ABC". LinkedIn. 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  4. Bodey, Michael (21 August 2013). "ABC unveils new national reporting team". The Australian. Retrieved 29 March 2023. Researchers: Alison Branley (from The Newcastle Herald), Suzanne Dredge (from Koori Radio)...
  5. Perry, Kevin (28 November 2022). "Suzanne Dredge appointed to new role as Head of Indigenous News at ABC". TV Blackbox. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  6. Boland, Bray (28 November 2022). "Suzanne Dredge earns ABC News Head, Indigenous News role". Radio Today. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  7. Mascarenhas, Carla (28 March 2023). "Stan Grant lashes the ABC over election night diversity fail". news.com.au. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  8. Meade, Amanda (28 March 2023). "News boss admits ABC has 'a way to go' on diversity after Stan Grant criticises election coverage". The Guardian. Stevens said he agrees with Grant that "the ABC is not yet where we want to be" but highlighted recent appointments, including Suzanne Dredge in the new role of head of Indigenous news...
  9. "Age journalists recognised at Walkley Award". The Age. 3 December 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2023. TV/AV Daily Current Affairs: Matt Brown, Suzanne Dredge and Mathew Marsic, 7.30, ABC TV, "Enslaved by Aussie Jihadis"
  10. "Award winners: Suzanne Dredge, Dylan Welch, David Maguire and Janine Cohen". The Walkey Foundation. 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  11. Saulwick, Jacob (10 August 2019). "Sydney Morning Herald snares five Kennedy Awards as ABC takes out top prize". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 March 2023. 1. Les Kennedy Award - Outstanding Crime Reporting Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Lesley Robinson and Suzanne Dredge (Four Corners, ABC Investigations)
  12. "Awards winners: Dylan Welch, Alexander Palmer, Clare Blumer and Suzanne Dredge". The Walkley Foundation. 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  13. Mitchell, Chris (30 October 2022). "ABC turns corner on Indigenous reporting, but there's still a way to go". The Australian. Retrieved 29 March 2023. Three of the ABC team who made the program – Indigenous affairs editor Bridget Brennan, producer Suzanne Dredge and researcher Brooke Fryer – are Aboriginal.
  14. "ABC wins Melbourne Press Club Gold Quill for 'How Many More?'". About The ABC. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023. Brennan, Dredge and Fryer broke new ground as the first female Indigenous reporting team to report a Four Corners.
  15. "28th Quill Awards for Excellence in Victorian Journalism 2022: All the winners". Mediaweek. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023. Gold Quill Awards winner: Bridget Brennan, Brooke Fryer, Suzanne Dredge and Stephanie Zillman, Four Corners, ABC News for "How Many More?"
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