Christopher Pearson

Notable work and positions

The Adelaide Review - Founding Editor and Owner (1985-2002)
The Australian - Weekly Columnist
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) - Board Director (2003-2007)

Biography

Christopher Pearson (August 28, 1951 - June 7, 2013) was an Australian journalist and conservative commentator. Born in Sydney, he spent most of his life in Adelaide, earning a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Flinders University, where his thesis examined Australian author Patrick White, and a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Adelaide. He took over editorship of The Adelaide Review, a cultural magazine founded by Mark Jamieson in 1984, after its first half-dozen issues, and led it as editor and part owner until selling it in 2002 to Spanish media proprietor Javier Moll, though he continued to write for and influence the magazine afterward. He also served as the first publisher of the privatised Wakefield Press after buying its name from the South Australian government, operating it from 1986 to 1988. He wrote occasional articles for The Herald, The Age and The Courier-Mail through the 1980s and 1990s, was a regular columnist for the Australian Financial Review from 1997 to 2001, and then moved to the Weekend Australian, where he wrote a weekly column on cultural, religious and political matters until his death. He served as a speechwriter for Prime Minister John Howard and was a close friend and mentor to future Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose books he also edited. He served on the board of the government-owned broadcaster SBS from 2003 to 2007, on the Council of the National Museum of Australia, and as a director of the Australia Council.