The Andrew Olle Media Lecture was established in 1996 by the presenters and staff at 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL) to honour the memory of ABC Radio broadcaster Andrew Olle, who died in 1995 of a brain tumour. It focuses on the role and future of the media.
The Andrew Olle Lecturers have been:
1996: David Williamson, Australian playwright1997: Jana Wendt, Australian television journalist1998: John Alexander, former editor-in-chief of The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald1999: Steve Vizard, Australian writer and producer, chairman Granada Australia2000: Eric Beecher, chief executive of Text Media, former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald2001: Kerry Stokes, executive chairman of the Seven Network2002: Lachlan Murdoch, chairman of News Limited, deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation2003: Harold Mitchell, CEO and chairman of Mitchell Partners2004: Chris Anderson, board member of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, former chief executive of Optus2005: John Doyle, Australian actor, comedian, writer2006: Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts2007: John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited2008: Ray Martin, Australian television journalist2009: Julian Morrow, Australian actor, comedian, member of The Chaser2010: Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian newspaper, media innovator2011: Laurie Oakes, Australian print and television journalist2012: Mark Colvin, Australian radio journalist2013: Lisa Wilkinson, presenter of Today, former Cleo editor2014: Kate McClymont, investigative journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald2015: Helen McCabe, editor-in-chief of The Australian Women's Weekly magazine2016: Waleed Aly, writer, commentator, broadcaster, academic and co-host of The Project 