Australian TV legend George Negus hailed for being a ‘fearless journalist’ dies aged 82 --[Reported by Umva mag]

Veteran broadcaster George Negus has died aged 82 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Australian journalist was best known for presenting on the groundbreaking 60 Minutes programme in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as on Foreign Correspondent and Dateline.

His death was announced in a statement by his family, who shared Negus had ‘passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones’.

‘While we know he will be celebrated for his unique contribution to journalism, football, and the environment, he would also want to be remembered for the incredible family man he was,’ the statement read.

‘Despite the challenges diseases like Alzheimer’s inflict on families, we still shared beautiful times, laughter and happiness together in recent times. We also learnt a lot,’ they added.

Last month, Negus’ son Ned posted on social media that the broadcaster had been diagnosed five years previously and had become non-verbal.

‘I was hesitant to post this on LinkedIn, as it’s pretty personal,’ he wrote.

‘But then realised you’re all humans and there’s always a place for sharing human realities with your professional network.’

He then went on to reveal his father’s condition had worsened: ‘He’s now non-verbal most of the time (mind-blowing for me but also any of you that know him).’

After first working as a high school teacher, Negus started his career in the media industry aged 28 when he began at the Australian Financial Review newspaper, before turning to television with ABC’s Today Tonight.

He was then one of the founding correspondents on Nine’s 60 Minutes.

It was on this show that Negus infamously clashed with then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1981.

‘Why do people stop us in the street and tell us Margaret Thatcher isn’t just inflexible, she isn’t just single-minded, on occasions she’s plain pig-headed?’ he asked the politician.

The Iron Lady questioned who had called her that, and where, with Negus repeatedly saying the criticism came from ordinary people on the street.

Negus often reported from the frontline of dangerous conflicts but described himself as an ‘anti-war correspondent’ as he wanted viewers to understand the reasons behind why wars were senseless.

Kerry O’Brien, a close friend and a former colleague of Negus on This Day Tonight, said he was an ‘extraordinary, generous human being’

‘I think one of George’s great strengths for television was that the person you saw in the frame was an exact replica of the man,’ he told Guardian Australia.

Journalist Peter FitzSimons also shared: ‘Vale George Negus. Lovely bloke. Larrikin. Tv pioneer. Strong and fearless journalist.’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also paid tribute to the presenter, whom he called ‘a giant of Australian journalism’.

‘His courage, curiosity and integrity gave millions of Australians a sense of the big issues on 60 Minutes, and a window to the world through Foreign Correspondent,’ he wrote on X.

‘George sought and served the truth with steely determination and a twinkle in his eye, and along the way, he made even the smallest TV screen feel that much bigger.

‘He was a wonderful human being, and his loss will be deeply felt by so many Australians. We offer his family the heartfelt condolences of our nation. May he rest in peace.’

Negus leaves behind wife Kirsty Cockburn, herself a journalist, and their sons Ned and Serge, who as a child played Mikey Dundee alongside Paul Hogan in the 2001 film Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

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