John Lyons (journalist)

John Lyons (born 1961) is an Australian journalist. As of May 2025^[update] Lyons is Americas Editor at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, having previously been its Global Affairs Editor.

Early life and education

John Lyons was born in 1961.^[1]

Career

Lyons was editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, executive producer of the Sunday program on the Nine Network, and a foreign correspondent in the United States and Israel.^[2]

He was associate editor (digital) and a senior reporter at The Australian, before being appointed executive editor of ABC News and head of investigative journalism for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2017.^[2][3][4]

On 5 June 2019 Lyons live-tweeted when the Australian Federal Police raided the Sydney office of the ABC, the day after their raid on the home of Annika Smethurst. He reported that they had downloaded 9214 documents which then had to be assessed in terms of the warrant issued.^[5]

Lyons became Americas Editor at the ABC in March 2025, after having been its Global Affairs Editor.^[6]

Awards

Lyons won the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Award in 1999 for his work with The Bulletin.^[4]

Lyons has won the following Walkley Awards:

• 1999, for Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique, for his national affairs reporting for The Bulletin^[7]
• 2001, for Broadcast Interviewing for his television interviews on the Sunday^[7]
• 2014, for Investigative Journalism as part of a Four Corners team's reporting on the Israeli military's treatment of Palestinian children^[7][8]

In August 2024, at the Kennedy Awards for Outstanding Journalism, Lyons won the Journalist of the Year award, as well as Outstanding Team Player or Mentor and Outstanding Feature Writing awards, for his reporting from the Middle East.^[9]

Books

In 2017 his memoir, Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir, was published by HarperCollins.^[10]

Lyons' book Dateline Jerusalem: Journalism's Toughest Assignment was published by Monash University Publishing in 2021.^[11][12][13]

A Bunker in Kyiv: The Astonishing Story of the People's Army Defying Putin was published by HarperCollins Australia in April 2025.^[14]

Personal life

Lyons married Sylvie Le Clezio and they have one son.^[15] They live in Sydney.^[16]