Jana Wendt
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| Born | (1956-05-09) 9 May 1956 (age 68)
Melbourne, Australia
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| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
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| Years active | 1979−2006 |
| Spouse | Brendan Ward |
| Children | 1 |
Jana Bohumila Wendt (/ˈjɑːnɑː vɛnt/ YAH-nah VENT; born 9 May 1956) is an Australian Gold Logie award-winning television journalist, reporter and writer.
Wendt was born in Melbourne to Czech parents who emigrated to Australia in 1949, as political refugees on account of her father’s work as a journalist for a Czech dissident newspaper.[1]
Wendt attended Presentation College, Windsor[2] before graduating at the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts (French, Honours) in 1979.[3][4]
Starting as a researcher for the ABC,[5] Wendt's television career began as a journalist for ATV-10 evening news, before sharing presenting duties with David Johnston.[1]
In 1982, Wendt then went on to be one of the first reporters on the Australian Nine Network's version of 60 Minutes,[6] as well as filing stories for the American CBS 60 Minutes.
more like a Hollywood film star than anyone else in Australian TV
— Gerald Stone, [1]
Wendt took over in 1987 as host of A Current Affair, also on Nine, until November 1992,[7][1] and was host of Australian DatelineonSBS and WitnessonSeven.
She also did a number of specials for the ABC. She returned to Channel Nine in 2003 to host Sunday.[8]
Rumours of Wendt's departure from Nine began in June 2006, when the network announced it would merge its Sunday and Business Sunday programs. Leaks to the print media, reportedly from high levels within Nine and described by journalists as "ham-fisted", revealed that the network wanted to replace Wendt with Ellen Fanning. Then CEO Eddie McGuire in particular was accused of trying to "white-ant" Wendt. On 1 September 2006 it was announced that Wendt would leave the Nine Network.[9] News reports suggested she would receive a payout of more than A$2 million in lieu of the remaining two and a half years of her contract.
The absence of Wendt on the Sunday program's relaunch on 3 September 2006 was met with an unprecedented number of complaints that flooded the Nine Network's switchboard.[10]
Wendt was then sacked from her regular "Lunch" column for The Bulletin magazine, due to the association the magazine has with the Nine Network; both had the same parent company, PBL.
On 12 September 2006, just ten days after she left the Nine Network, Wendt agreed to appear on stage at the Seven Network's 50 Years of Television presentation, where she co-presented the News and Current Affairs section with Sydney news presenter Ian Ross, another former Nine Network employee.
Delivering the second Andrew Olle Media Lecture in 1997,[11] Wendt said of the profession:
I was rewarded handsomely, extravagantly - I was paid what my employers believed I was worth - and that reward has now bought me the most valuable commodity of all - freedom. I am able to say many things that my colleagues, still tied to one or other mighty media empire cannot say. They are the ones who continue to work within an increasingly restrictive atmosphere. An atmosphere imposed by what has transformed ominously, from journalism that is true to itself, into journalism dictated over-ridingly by the market. There is nothing more soul-destroying than having to work at cross-purposes with what you really believe. There is nothing more destructive of a journalist's talent than subordinating it to goals that have nothing to do with journalism. And yet more and more, journalists are asked to distort their values to the perceived dictates of the market.
— [1]
Wendt presented the Logies Hall of Fame award to the program 60 Minutesatthe 2018 Logies.[12]
Wendt married producer Brendan Ward in 1984[13] and they have one son, Daniel.[6]
In2004, a painting of Wendt by artist Evert Ploeg won the Packing Room Prize at the Archibald Prize.[14][15]
Wendt won the 1992 Gold Logie Award for her role as host of A Current Affair.[16] She was not at the presentation to accept her award, citing commitments to A Current Affair, based in Sydney, while the awards were being presented in Melbourne.
Wendt won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Kennedy Awards.[17]
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