Mark Colvin

Mark Colvin has been the presenter of ABC Radio’s long-running national daily current affairs program ‘PM’ since 1997.

For more than 35 years, he has covered national and international stories for the ABC. In 1980 he reported from Iran on the US hostage crisis and the violent struggles for power in the country in the wake of the Khomeini revolution.

As Europe correspondent he reported on the late stages of the Cold War, including the rise of Solidarity in Poland, and the ground-breaking talks between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Later, he reported from Serbia and Bosnia for Foreign Correspondent, and made a series of films about crime, corruption and politics in ‘90s Italy.

In 1994, on a trip to Zaire and Rwanda to cover the Hutu-Tutsi massacres, Mark contracted a chronic and life-threatening disease which put him in hospital for many months and ultimately put an end to his in-the field reporting career. As presenter of PM, he keeps a close eye on national and international politics and uses his experience and historical knowledge to give some perspective to the stories of the day.