Stephen McDonell

{{Similar names|Stephen McDonnell (disambiguation){{!}}Stephen McDonnell}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Stephen McDonell

| occupation = Journalist

| employer = BBC

| nationality = Australian

}}

Stephen McDonell is an Australian journalist who has been BBC's China correspondent since 2016. He is based in Beijing.{{Cite web|date=2015-12-14|title=After nine years as China correspondent, Stephen McDonell farewells the ABC|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-14/china-correspondent-stephen-mcdonell-farewells-abc/7025736|access-date=2021-01-20|website=www.abc.net.au|language=en-AU}} He was previously the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's China correspondent from 2006 to 2015.{{cite web|last=Corporation|first=Australian Broadcasting|date=2006-11-02|title=Stephen McDonell|url=https://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s1888046.htm|access-date=2021-01-22|website=www.abc.net.au}}

Education

McDonell has a Master of Arts, Journalism degree from the University of Technology in Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wollongong.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Career

= With ABC (1993–2015) =

From 1993 to 1999, McDonell reported for the radio current affairs programs AM, The World Today and PM. He was a reporter for Four Corners, and worked with Lateline for two years.

In October 2006, he was posted to Beijing, China. As ABC China correspondent he has reported on the crash of MH17 and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, among other things.{{Cite web|date=2014-07-30|title=Stephen McDonell reports from Ukraine|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/stephen-mcdonell-reports-from-ukraine/5634506|access-date=2021-01-22|website=ABC News|language=en-AU}}{{Citation|title=Crackdown|date=2014-09-30|url=https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/crackdown/5780616|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|language=en-AU|access-date=2021-01-22}} The latter led to a warning to the ABC by the Chinese Embassy that there would be "wider implications" over its Foreign Correspondent report.{{Cite web|date=2014-09-30|title=ABC warned of 'wider implications' from China story|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-30/abc-warned-of-wider-implications-from-china-story/5779218|access-date=2021-01-22|website=www.abc.net.au|language=en-AU}}

He also worked for The 7.30 Report and Radio National's Background Briefing.

He left the ABC in 2015. After spending Christmas with his family in Australia, he returned to Beijing and joined the BBC.{{Cite web|date=2015-12-11|title=Stephen McDonell on why Beijing will be the last bureau standing|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/12/11/stephen-mcdonell-on-why-beijing-will-be-the-last-bureau-standing/|access-date=2021-01-22|website=Crikey|language=en-US}}

= With BBC (2015–present) =

Significant events McDonell has reported on with the BBC include the 2019-20 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite news|title=Coronavirus: The 'propaganda push' in China|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-51647597|access-date=2021-01-22}}{{Cite news|title=The road back to Wuhan|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-55681744|access-date=2021-01-22}}{{Cite news|title=Beijing looks like a 'ghost town,' says BBC correspondent under quarantine {{!}} CBC Radio|language=en-US|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-thursday-edition-1.5446163/beijing-looks-like-a-ghost-town-says-bbc-correspondent-under-quarantine-1.5446165|access-date=2021-01-22}}

While reporting on the Hong Kong protests in 2019, McDonell's face visor was smashed by a projectile.{{Cite news|title=BBC reporter hit in the face during HK protest|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-49243335|access-date=2021-01-20}}

In January 2020, he reported on the outbreak of COVID-19 from inside Hubei province, where infections were first reported, before being quickly escorted out of the province by Chinese police.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bZtH8YhY0E|title = Coronavirus | Inside Hubei Province | BBC News at Ten|website = YouTube| date=28 January 2020 }}{{Cite news|title=Reporter starts coronavirus quarantine in Beijing|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-51292956|access-date=2021-01-23}} He returned to the site a year later in January 2021. During the 2021 Henan floods, as several foreign journalists at the location were confronted by angry crowds who accused them of negative portrayals of China, McDonell said on Twitter that this was a "clearly orchestrated campaign of harassment" with a focus on the BBC.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/26/foreign-journalists-harassed-by-chinese-citizens-over-floods-coverage|title=Foreign journalists harassed in China over floods coverage|first=Helen|last=Davidson|work=The Guardian|date=2021-07-26|access-date=2021-10-04}}

= Awards =

McDonell has won several Walkley Awards including one for investigative journalism in 1996, for coverage of the Asia Pacific region in 2008,{{Cite web|title=Awards|url=https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/awards/|date=n.d.|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.abc.net.au|language=en}} and for Radio news reporting in 2008 about the Sichuan earthquake.{{Cite web|date=2008-10-16|title=Walkey [sic] finalists|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/walkey-finalists-20081015-51mf.html|access-date=2021-10-04|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en-AU}}

He won a Logie Award for Most Outstanding TV News Coverage in 2008.