Gaven Morris appointed Director of ABC News

Gaven Morris, currently ABC Head of News Content, has been appointed as Director of ABC News following the recent departure of Kate Torney.

Morris has held senior news roles within the ABC, CNN, Al Jazeera English and Network TEN and has been responsible for the launch of ABC News 24.

Craig McMurtrie, currently ABC Head of Newsgathering, has been appointed Deputy Director of ABC News.

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said, “The ABC is the nation’s most trusted news gathering organisation and I am confident that in appointing Gaven and Craig it remains in reliable hands.

“Gaven comes to this role with a strong record in managing the complexity of large news rooms and, in particular, building news brands such as ABC News 24. He is well positioned to lead ABC News into its next chapter.

“Craig is one of the ABC’s most respected journalists and has served in key roles in Canberra and Washington covering major events in domestic politics and on the international stage,” he said.

“As Head of Newsgathering, Craig has played an integral role in maintaining the highest standards of journalism our audiences expect of us.”

“In a changing media landscape, original and distinctive journalism is more important than ever. Craig and I look forward to leading the team,” said Morris.

Gaven Morris has been Head of News Content for ABC News since late 2012. This role includes overseeing all of ABC News’s digital and broadcast news output – scheduled television and radio news bulletins, News 24, NewsRadio, the Asia-Pacific News Centre and online and mobile news services.

Gaven has extensive experience as a news executive, news editor, reporter and producer. He spent almost a decade in international news, first at CNN in London as an online and television reporter and as a roving international news producer and senior editor. During this time, Gaven covered numerous significant news stories, including the war in Iraq, the 2nd Intifada in the Middle East, the Liberian civil war and terrorist attacks in London and Europe. In 2005, Gaven moved to the Middle East and spent three years in Doha as a member of the team that set up Al Jazeera English.

In 2008, Gaven returned to Australia and took up the role of ABC National Editor, for ABC News Online. He was later promoted to the newly created role of ABC Head of Continuous News and oversaw breaking news content across all platforms.

In his early career, Gaven was a reporter for the 7.30 Report, a reporter on the current affairs program ‘Attitude’, a producer and reporter for the ABC and Network Ten in Canberra’s press gallery and a newspaper journalist for the Canberra Times.

Craig McMurtrie has spent more than two decades in senior reporting and management roles with the ABC. Since 2012 he has been ABC’s Head of Newsgathering, managing all news reporting across television, radio and digital. In that role he has been instrumental in implementing the newsgathering changes, the introduction of the National Reporting Team and a restructure of international newsgathering at the ABC.

Craig joined the ABC in 1992 as a general news reporter before being appointed NSW state political reporter. He has been posted to the Canberra press gallery twice in his career, from 1995-1996 as Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent and from 2002-2007 as Canberra Parliament House Bureau Chief.

Craig has twice been the ABC’s foreign correspondent in Washington DC: first from 1997–2001 and again from 2010-12, when he was Senior Reporter and Washington Bureau Chief.

Between 2007 and 2009 he was the ABC’s Head of News Coverage.