28 Facts About Sharri Markson

Sharri Markson was born on 8 March 1984 and is an Australian journalist and author.

Sharri Markson is the winner of numerous awards in journalism, including two Walkley Awards.

Sharri Markson began her journalism career as a copy girl at The Sunday Telegraph at the age of 16.

Sharri Markson was promoted to the state political reporter, Canberra correspondent, and finally, chief of staff.

Sharri Markson twice won the Young Journalist of the Year Award and did secondments at the New York Post and The Sun in London.

Sharri Markson joined the Seven Network in 2011, and was commended in the Walkley Awards for an investigation that revealed Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner's rush to cash in on the solar-bonus scheme subsidy for solar panels on his roof after then Premier Kristina Keneally announced it was shutting down.

Sharri Markson was recruited as the Australian editor of Cleo in 2013.

Sharri Markson replaced Simon Benson as media editor of The Australian newspaper in February 2014.

Sharri Markson shifted to a senior writing role in 2015.

Sharri Markson wrote stories about The Sydney Morning Herald columnist, Mike Carlton's abusive and anti-semitic emails and tweets to readers during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Sharri Markson won a Walkley Award "Scoop of the Year" in 2018 alongside journalists Kylar Loussikian and Chris Dore for coverage of Barnaby Joyce's affair and "love child" with a parliamentary staffer that ultimately led to Joyce's resignation as Australia's Deputy Prime Minister.

Later coverage by Sharri Markson revealed that Campion had been awarded jobs for which she was not qualified in the offices of other government politicians, and that Joyce had lied about the affair to then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

An assessment of the claim by The Guardian Australia concluded that while True Crime News Weekly did report on a series of rumours regarding Joyce, including that Joyce was having an affair and with a staffer, Sharri Markson was able to substantiate the name of the staffer and the specific details of the affair including the pregnancy.

The ABC attributed the story to Sharri Markson and noted that Sharri Markson had offered Joyce and Campion a sit-down portrait as an alternative to the front-page picture that attracted controversy.

In 2018 Sharri Markson won the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Excellence in Journalism, which was presented to her by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch at an awards ceremony in Sydney.

On 17 August 2018 Sharri Markson was the first to report Dutton was being urged to seize the leadership "within weeks" by conservative MPs unhappy with Malcolm Turnbull's leadership.

Sharri Markson followed up her story by breaking another story the next day that Dutton was seriously considering launching a challenge for the prime ministership.

Sharri Markson began hosting a self-titled weekly program on Sky News Live from 9 October 2018.

In 2019, Sharri Markson won another Kennedy Award for columnist of the year and in 2021 for Outstanding Nightly Current Affairs.

Sharri Markson's baby was present for an exclusive sit-down interview with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

In May 2019, Sharri Markson described herself as being "smashed on social media" after stating on air eight days before election day that the Coalition government was in a competitive position to be re-elected.

Sharri Markson's analysis defied the majority of polling and public opinion that expected an electoral victory for then-opposition leader Bill Shorten, and rather predicted the Coalition parties would come to win the election by taking a few key seats in Victoria, New South Wales, and crucially, Queensland.

Sharri Markson later credited the Coalition victory to a significant turnaround by leader Scott Morrison in key marginal areas.

Sharri Markson has reported on and written extensively on the origins of COVID-19 pandemic.

Sharri Markson's reporting has been described by The Sydney Morning Herald as being part of a counter-narrative that advances the case that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a laboratory leak in opposition to the findings of the World Health Organization in March 2021 on the origins of the virus.

In May 2021, Sharri Markson published excerpts of a document that showed Chinese military scientists "discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronaviruses five years before the Covid-19 pandemic".

The Guardian accused Sharri Markson of promoting conspiracy theories, noting that the document cited was a book that was widely available in Chinese and that books of its nature tended to be sensational and conspiratorial.

On 20 September 2021, Sky News Australia broadcast a documentary by Sharri Markson entitled What Really Happened in Wuhan that featured an exclusive interview with former US president Donald Trump, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe.