Michael Gleeson

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Michael Gleeson (born 1965 in Dubbo, New South Wales) is an Australian journalist. Michael is the brother of acclaimed children's author Libby Gleeson and uncle of "Home and Away" actress Jessica Tovey.

[edit] Career

Gleeson became a journalist with the Hobart Mercury Newspaper in 1984 before moving into commercial Television in Tasmania with TasTV (later WIN). He joined the ABC in Queensland in 1988, covering, among other things, the fall of the National Party government, the Nyngan flood, and the civil unrest on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. In 1992, he co-authored a book on the fall of the Greiner Government of New South Wales entitled An Act of Corruption?. In September of 1993, he was sent to Monaco for ABC TV News to cover the awarding of the Year 2000 Olympics to Sydney. He was appointed Washington Correspondent for ABC TV in January 1984. From then on, he covered the Oklahoma City bombing, the Australian Cricket Team's historic win over the West Indies in Jamaica in 1995, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing, and the re-election of Bill Clinton as U.S President.

In 1997, he moved to Seven Network's Los Angeles Bureau and covered, among other things, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the funeral of Princess Diana of Wales.

In late 1998, Gleeson left journalism to become Communications Director for Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon. He is presently a public relations executive with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.