- Jana Wendt
Infobox Celebrity
name = Jana Wendt
caption = Jana in a publicity shot for theSydney Morning Herald
birth_date = Birth date and age|1956|5|9|df=y
birth_place =Melbourne , VIC,Australia
occupation =Television personality Reporter Journalist
spouse = Brendan Ward
children = Daniel Ward
website =
footnotes =Jana Wendt (born
9 May 1956 inMelbourne ,Australia ) is a leading television journalist in Australia. She was born to Czech parents who emigrated to Australia in1949 . Until August 2006, she was host of theNine Network 's "Sunday" program.Background
Prior to her time with "Sunday", she worked as a reporter on Australian "60 Minutes", as well as filing stories for the American CBS "
60 Minutes ". She has been host of "A Current Affair ", also on Nine, a host of Australian "Dateline" on SBS, "Witness" on Seven and a newsreader onATV-10 . She also did a number of specials for the ABC.Personal Life
Wendt is married to producer Brendan Ward and has one son, Daniel. In 2004, a painting of Wendt by artist Evert Ploegs won the packers' room award at the
Archibald Prize .She is a very private person, and has not been in the spotlight much since her boning from the Nine Network.
Awards and "Boning" by Eddie McGuire
Wendt won the 1992 Gold
Logie for her role as host of "A Current Affair". She was the first recipient not to be there to accept the award.Rumours of her departure from Nine began in June 2006, when the network announced it would merge its "Sunday" and "Business Sunday" programs. Leaks to the print media, reportedly from high levels within Nine and described by journalists as "ham-fisted", revealed that the network wanted to replace Wendt with Ellen Fanning.
CEO
Eddie McGuire in particular was accused of trying to "white-ant" Wendt. On 1 September 2006 it was announced [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/jana-quits-nine/2006/09/01/1156817087826.html Jana quits Nine - TV & Radio - Entertainment - smh.com.au ] ] that Wendt would leave the Nine Network. News reports suggested she would receive a payout of more than $2 million in lieu of the remaining 2½ years of her contract.The absence of Wendt on the "Sunday" program's relaunch on 3 September 2006 was met with an unprecedented number of complaints that flooded the Nine Network's switchboard and of which the operator failed to keep count. [ [http://www.crikey.com.au/Media/20060905-Viewers-let-Nine-know-what-they-think-of-the-new-iSundayi.html Crikey - Viewers let Nine know what they think of the new Sunday - Viewers let Nine know what they think of the new Sunday ] ]
Wendt was then sacked from her regular 'Lunch' column for "The Bulletin" magazine, due to the association the magazine has with Channel Nine. Both have the same parent company, PBL.
On 12 September 2006, just ten days after she left Channel Nine, Jana Wendt agreed to appear on stage at Channel Seven's 50 years of television presentation. This was seen as a huge snub to Channel Nine, which had "boned" her only days before.
She co-presented the News and Current Affairs 50 years celebration with Sydney news anchor, Ian Ross.
In 2007 she wrote a book, "A Matter of Principle".
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
