Michael Brissenden

Michael Brissenden is currently TV Features Correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Washington, DC. Michael began his career in journalism the 1980s covering Australian politics for the ABC’s radio current affairs programs AM and PM.

In 1994 he was posted to Moscow and subsequently Brussels as Europe correspondent for ABC radio and television. During the decade he spent as a foreign correspondent Michael covered many of the biggest international stories from all corners of the globe, from the Pacific to Europe, the US and the Middle East including the various Balkans wars, the conflict in Chechnya, the fall of Suharto in Indonesia and the build up to the Iraq war.

On September 11, 2001, he was sent to New York to report on the devastating impact of the attacks on the World Trade Centre. In 1998 he won a Walkley Award for a series of television news stories exposing corruption and bribe taking at the highest level in PNG. He returned to Australia and to political reporting in 2003, and was the political editor for the ABC’s flagship television current affairs program The 7.30 Report in Canberra from 2003 to 2009.

For some years Michael was a regular contributor to Matilda.com. He has also contributed to two published collections of essays: Travellers Tales 1 (ABC Books), and The Science Minster and the Sea Cow – 13 essays on the nature of choice (Finlay Lloyd). He has written for the Bulletin, has been a food and wine critic for the Canberra Times and has written features for the Canberra Times travel section. His political analysis features regularly on the ABC Online site.