Рэймонд Мартин: Путь австралийской телезвезды

Australian journalist and television presenter

Raymond George Martin AM (né Grace, 20 December 1944) is an Australian television journalist and entertainment personality. Having won the Gold Logie five times, he is the most awarded star of Australian television, along with Graham Kennedy (although Kennedy won the ‘Star of the Year Award’, the forerunner of the Gold Logie in 1959). He is best known for his various on air roles on Channel Nine from 1978, particularly his stint on A Current Affair and his long tenure as host of the variety/talk show The Midday Show, after original host Mike Walsh left as host of a similar midday format with The Mike Walsh Show. In 2011, he returned to the current affairs show 60 Minutes, in which he had been an original presenter, albeit only in a part time capacity.

He was born Raymond George Grace into an Irish Australian Catholic family in Richmond, New South Wales, Australia. He was the youngest of four children and their only son. He attended Launceston College and the University of Sydney, where he studied engineering on scholarship at university, but changed his mind and studied to become an English and history teacher. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1967. He was appointed the ABC's New York City correspondent in 1969. On 28 March 2008, it was announced that Martin would lead the official broadcast of the World Youth Day event in Sydney from 15 to 20 July 2008. In October 2008, Martin criticised the Nine Network and other commercial television operations during an address at the annual Andrew Olle Media Lecture. The subject of Martin's criticism was an alleged "dumbing down" of journalism and news coverage. Since 2014, Martin has been the presenter for the SBS series First Contact. In 2015, he featured on the SBS Australian version of the popular international franchise genealogy television documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?. In 2017, he hosted Look Me In The Eye. In 2016 and 2017, Martin presented three primetime specials for the regional network Prime7 focusing on major social issues impacting their viewing areas: Ice: The Scourge of Regional Australia, Dark Secrets: Australia's Hidden Shame, and It Won’t Happen To Me. In August 2018, Martin was announced as a presenter on the Nine Network's new travel series Helloworld, which aired on 7 October 2018. In 2020, during the first Australian COVID 19 lockdowns, Martin presented the ABC comedy series At Home Alone Together, a satire of lifestyle television with a pandemic theme.

In 1998, John Safran, an Australian documentarian and media personality, created a television pilot called John Safran: Media Tycoon, which was focused on the media industry. It became infamous for a segment where Safran turned up to Martin's house and confronted him in the tabloid style characteristic of A Current Affair and its peers. Martin was in contact with the ABC and specifically warned Safran in the segment that he had spoken to Roger Grant, the then Head of Corporate Affairs at the ABC. The segment was later played on Media Watch on ABC and on Enough Rope. Safran went through Martin's garbage and took Shane Paxton (a former A Current Affair story subject) in his effort to engage Martin.

Martin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2010 Australia Day Honours "for service to the community through voluntary roles with charitable, Indigenous, health and sporting organisations, and to the media as a television journalist." Martin was awarded the Centenary Medal on 1 January 2001. In 2018, Martin was honoured with a special collection of post stamps issued by Australia Post, with his portrait featured on the stamp, as part of the legends of television series. Martin was also honoured with a star on Caloundra Walk of Stars in early 2007.

Martin is married to Dianne Martin, with whom he has two children. During the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, Martin supported the "Yes" vote. At a Yes campaign event in Sydney’s inner west, he took issue with the No Campaign's slogan "If You Don't Know, Vote No." At the event, Martin said "what that asinine slogan is saying is if you're a dinosaur or a dickhead who can't be bothered reading, then vote no."

Martin is a supporter and current board member of the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL team. He was Chairman of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF), was Chairman of The Fred Hollows Foundation and has supported children's services at Royal North Shore Hospital. From 1991 to 2000, he was a full term member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. as of November 2020 he is an Ambassador for the AIEF. He is a Brand Tasmania Ambassador. For more than 30 years, the children's charity the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has enjoyed support from Martin.

Martin has been a Patron of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation since 1990 to raise awareness of the Foundation and the work it provides for sick children in hospitals across Australia. Martin hosts many of Humpty's events as well as being involved in trips across Australia to meet with medical professionals, young hospital patients and their families. Ray is also involved in The Good Egg Magazine, which celebrates the work of the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. One of Martin's oldest colleagues was Fred Hollows, and, through their friendship, Martin became a distinguished ambassador and chairman for The Fred Hollows Foundation. Martin utilized his career in journalism to help raise awareness for the international non profit organization. The Fred Hollows Foundation educates surgeons on how to treat avoidable blindness within underserved communities and countries. Specifically, they work within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Indigenous Australia.