Most of the top 30 TV bigwigs have one thing in common…
Australian TV’s most powerful and influential people for 2015 have been declared.
Fairfax Media canvassed a “panel of experts – critics, executives and industry insiders” before naming “the big 30” movers and shakers.
The list includes heavy hitters such as The Project co-host Waleed Aly, Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War actor Patrick Brammall, actor/writer/producer Sean Micallef, and Go Back To Where You Came From producers Matt Campbell, Nick Murray and Michael Cordell.
You can see the full list here.
Congratulations to them.
But, the thing is, only six of the top 30 are women.
Those women include:
ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson: “One of Australia’s best journalists, below, who has delivered a broad range of impactful work (including The Killing Season) and played a role in breathing new life and relevance into Four Corners.”
ABC journalist Leigh Sales: “The presenter of the ABC’s current affairs flagship and, with a surgical precision which is rarely seen in modern television journalism, Australian television’s best interrogator.”
ABC’s head of Indigenous television Sally Riley: “A powerful figure in bringing Indigenous voices to the screen, and a stylish knack for exploding genres, from the brilliant Redfern Now to the mischievous Black Comedy.”
Screentime’s head of non-fiction Jennifer Collins: “Former head of factual at the ABC with credits as varied as Poh’s Kitchen and Who’s Been Sleeping in My House who has made the jump into the commercial space.”
FremantleMedia’s Jo Porter (alongside colleague Ian Hogg): “A management combination which has reignited Fremantle’s slate across every genre, but notably its game show Family Feud and its critically acclaimed (and well exported) drama Wentworth.”
Actor and presenter Julia Morris: “In a business notorious for executives who won’t share their toys, Morris (below) has used her star power to achieve the impossible: successful gigs on rival commercial networks.”
Women certainly deserving of their accolades.
But we think there are more than six powerful and influential women in TV worth a mention.
For starters, there are journalists and presenters Carrie Bickmore, Virginia Trioli, Lisa Wilkinson, Samantha Armytage, Elise Worthington, Lisa Millar, Chris Bath, Emma Alberici and Tara Brown.
Sonia Kruger, Melissa Doyle, Georgie Gardner, Shelley Craft.
New Bachie Queen Sam Frost.
Local actresses Danielle Cormack, Claudia Karvan and Michala Banas.
Or the exports making it big in US shows: Yael Stone, Ruby Rose, Tammin Sursok and Jacinda Barrett.
TV writer Debra Oswald.
Veteran producer Pam Barnes.
Plus, the many other women whose names roll across our screens in the credits, unnoticed by many.
And seriously… What about Lee Lin Chin?
Who do you think should have made the list?
Top Comments
TV is absolutely sexist, still. Why does Grant Denyer get to host the Spelling Bee while Chrissy Swan is shoved out the back?. Why is Livinia Nixon just a weather girl, she turned Hey Hey around! Why do women like Lisa Wilkinson have to sit alongside idiots like Karl Stefanovic? What an insult to her! And without Carry Bickmore, there would be no Project for Waleed to soap-box on.
Absolutely TV is still sexist and it will continue to be, until women own and run TV stations. Another reason why all women must be in the workforce, to show our girls they have to be in it too. So much still to do..
How the hell is Sam Frost a powerful and influential TV woman?
Yep, that nomination had me scratching head harder than when I was reading the Vegan lice story.
Bravo! :)
Agreed. random dude wins the internet today ;)