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Marc Fennell
EducationSt George Christian School
Occupations
  • Technology journalist
  • author
  • radio personality
  • TV presenter
Years active2002–present
Websitemarcfennell.com

Marc Fennell is an Australian technology journalist, television presenter, radio personality and author. He became known as co-anchor of The Feed, and as of November 2023 is the host of Mastermind (TV) and Stuff the British Stole (radio and TV) and Download This Show (radio).

Early life and education

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Fennell's mother, a school teacher, is Indian-Singaporean and his father, a photographer, is Anglo-Irish.[1][2]

He completed his Higher School Certificate in 2002 at St George Christian School.[3]

He attended the University of Technology Sydney, but left after eight weeks to join SBS's youth show The Movie Show.[4]

Career

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Film critic

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In 2002, Fennell was a winner of the first AFI Young Film Critics Competition.[5] He then became the film critic and reporter for Sydney radio station FBi Radio from 2003–2006.[citation needed]

During this period Fennell was selected as one of four presenters of SBS's The Movie Show in mid-2004.[5] Fennell remained with the show until June 2006, when the show went on hiatus, returning in a different format (and with a different team) in 2007.[6][7]

Fennell covered cinema across the ABC Radio Network including ABC Local Radio and the national youth broadcaster Triple J.[citation needed] He presented the weekly movie segment on the Network Ten morning program The Circle from 2010 until it was axed in August 2012.[citation needed]

Fennell also regularly produced digital projects exploring cinema culture including Bollywood For Beginners: a series for SBS Television about the history of Bollywood.[8] He also co-produced a web series about movie trailers, Coming Sooner, with Nick Hayden and Nicholas McDougall.[9]

Fennell has written 2 books, That Movie Book[10] and Planet According to Movies[11] both published by HarperCollins.

Hungry Beast

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Fennell presented and reported on Hungry Beast, aired on ABC1. He primarily covered digital media, popular culture, gaming and technology. Fennell was one of nine members of the team to be selected by Denton to develop online content for Zapruder's Other Films.[12] Prior to Hungry Beast Fennell had worked with another of the presenters, Dan Ilic, developing a YouTube parody of the Freeview launch[13] as part of their live comedy show Massage My Medium at the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.[14]

Technology journalism

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Fennell hosts the ABC's technology radio program Download This Show which examines the latest developments in social media, consumer electronics, digital politics, hacktivism and online privacy.[15] The program airs on Radio National, ABC Local Radio Digital and throughout Asia Pacific on Radio Australia.[16] Fennell has also regularly produced reports on technology for programs on ABC News 24 including News Exchange (ended), The Drum, Weekend Breakfast and the Technology Quarter (ended).[17]

The Feed

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Marc Fennell anchored the SBS current affairs program The Feed[18] from 2013 to its conclusion in 2022.[19] In addition to his main role co-hosting, Fennell's prerecorded segments became a feature of the show, most notably his interviews with film and television stars.[20] In 2020, Fennell won a Walkley Award for documenting the theft of museum specimens.[21]

India Now

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Fennell became an inaugural co-host of the weekly ABC television show India Now on 30 May 2022.[22] The show, described as "an exciting, rich and entertaining half hour of news, culture and politics from India and the subcontinent" is made by the creators of Planet America and China Tonight. The show is aimed at an Australian audience and it is hosted by Australians with Indian heritage.[23][24]

A second season began in April 2023.[25]

Podcasts

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In 2019, Fennell created It Burns, a podcast series covering the global race to grow the hottest pepper.[26] In 2020 he produced Nut Jobs investigating $10 million worth of nuts stolen from California.[citation needed] Fennell also created the ABC and CBC podcast series Stuff The British Stole which has since spawned a television series airing in Australia and Canada.[27]

Documentaries

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In 2021, Fennell presented Framed a 4-part SBS documentary into the theft of Picasso's painting The Weeping Woman.[28] Fennell hosted the Australian version of The School That Tried to End Racism for the ABC.[29] Fennell has reported around the world for the SBS foreign affairs programme Dateline.[30]

In 2023, he presented The Kingdom, a feature-length SBS documentary which premiered on 11 June 2023 and which investigated his former Pentecostal religion, in particular the successes and controversies of the Hillsong Church and the rise in new megachurches in Australia.[31] Later that year, he presented his 3-part investigation The Mission: The Strangest Art Heist You Never Heard Of about art works stolen in 1986 from the New Norcia Monastery in regional Western Australia.[32]

Mastermind

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In 2021, Fennell began hosting the Australian version of Mastermind, replacing Jennifer Byrne.

Recognition and awards

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In 2012, iTunes Australia named Download This Show the best new podcast, and it has won Best Audio Program at the Australian IT Journalism Awards ("The Lizzies") many times.[33] It won Best Outlet in the 2023 Lizzies.[34]

Personal life

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Fennell is married and has two children.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Marc Fennell: That Modern Universal Guy". My City Life. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  2. ^ "'Where are you from?' raises many questions". Brisbane Times. 12 September 2014.
  3. ^ NSW, Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards. "2002 Higher School Certificate – Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards NSW". www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Successful Australians who didn't go to university". Work Skills. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b Petersen, Freya (3 June 2004). "SBS adds a youthful twist in sobriety for that movie show". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, Australia. p. 7.
  6. ^ George, Sandy (23 March 2006). "Credits roll for Movie Show". The Australian. p. 42.
  7. ^ Browne, Rachel (6 May 2007). "Joy for film buffs as show goes on". Sun Herald. Sydney, Australia. p. 16.
  8. ^ Hamilton, Alicia (20 March 2012). "Bollywood for Beginners". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  9. ^ Totten, Sanden (11 September 2012). "How movie trailers evolved from an afterthought to an art form". KPCC. Retrieved 30 September 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Marc Fennell Kills Your Weekend (working title)". HarperCollins Australia. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  11. ^ Fennell, Marc (November 2015). Planet According to the Movies. HarperCollins Australia. ISBN 978-1-4607-0479-0. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  12. ^ Jackson, Sally (12 April 2010). "Digital natives held to spin new web". The Australian. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  13. ^ Blundell, Graeme (30 May 2009). "Is this the future of television?". The Australian. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  14. ^ Ilic, Dan (21 April 2009). "Marc Fennell & Dan Ilic in Massage My Medium (Or How to Save TV in 55 minutes)". MICF. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  15. ^ Fennell, Marc (20 February 2012). "Download This Show Homepage". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  16. ^ Croucher, Geoff. "Radio Australia Programme Guide". Radio Australia. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  17. ^ Marc Fennell (26 March 2020). "What's the best place on the internet?". Download This Show (Podcast). Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  18. ^ "The Feed". Special Broadcasting Service. 25 April 2015. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  19. ^ Quinn, Karl (25 May 2022). "SBS dumps youth-focused current affairs show The Feed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  20. ^ "Marc Fennell". Special Broadcasting Service. 25 April 2015. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  21. ^ "Marc Fennell, Ninah Kopel and Joel Stillone". The Walkley Foundation. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Brand new series INDIA NOW! to air on ABC". TV Blackbox. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  23. ^ "India Now!". Media Spy. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  24. ^ Erin Wen Ai Chew (30 May 2022). "ABC's India Now! Is The To Go To For Understanding What Is Going On In India And The Subcontinent". BEING ASIAN AUSTRALIAN. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  25. ^ Knox, David (11 April 2023). "Returning: India Now!". TV Tonight. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  26. ^ Pobjie, Ben (14 April 2019). "Q&A: Marc Fennell on fire, The Feed and finding people-first stories". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  27. ^ Dart, Chris (6 January 2023). "Stuff the British Stole host Marc Fennell wants to shake up our 'cultural amnesia'". CBC Television.
  28. ^ "Don't miss Framed: an art heist that's almost too wild to be believed". The Guardian. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  29. ^ Houston, Melinda (15 September 2021). "Marc Fennell: 'Racism doesn't have to be a big scary word'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  30. ^ Fighting China, archived from the original on 25 January 2023, retrieved 25 January 2023
  31. ^ Knox, David (16 May 2023). "Airdate: The Kingdom". TV Tonight. TV Tonight. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  32. ^ Clare Rigden (22 October 2023). "Marc Fennell's doco series for SBS, The Mission, looks at an art crime that took place in New Norcia in 1980s". The West Australian. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  33. ^ "Working with Sound: Marc Fennell". Australian Audio Guide. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  34. ^ "Lizzies 2024: Finalists & Final Updates". ACN Newswire. 14 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  35. ^ Leggatt, Johanna (30 August 2018). "Raising daughters in the #MeToo age and they go to undercliffe public school". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
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