David Penberthy

David Penberthy (born 1969, Adelaide, South Australia) is the former editor-in-chief of News Limited news site news.com.au and the former opinion website, The Punch. He was editor of The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Australia, from April 2005 until November 2008.

Early life and education Penberthy studied a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide in the late 1980s. Initially, he had enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws, but he left legal studies to enter journalism.

Career He was the 1990 co-editor of On Dit, the newspaper of the University's Student Association and was also President of CISCAC, the Committee in Solidarity with Central America and the Caribbean, a Marxist political club. In addition he was the energetic frontman for punk band Cerveza y Putas (Beer and Whores), which played originals and cover songs from such bands as the Pixies, Minor Threat, The Lemonheads, The Smiths and Hüsker Dü in Spanish, a language Penberthy acquired while living in Mexico in the late 1980s.

Penberthy started his career as an industrial relations reporter and then political reporter for the Adelaide-based The Advertiser,

In 2005 Penberthy was appointed editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Penberthy resigned as editor of the Daily Telegraph in November 2008 during the newspaper's campaign for the New South Wales state government to "sack itself".

In 2025, Penberthy embellished a story about a trans athlete at a South Australian school event which led to subsequent media attacks against the child and their family. When asked why he had not published a correction to the offending article when it was shown to be false, he reportedly responded "...until now I did not know that she wanted one".

Personal life In October 2010 it was reported that Penberthy had recently separated from his wife and he was romantically linked to federal MP Kate Ellis. A relationship between the two was confirmed by news reports in January 2011. They confirmed their engagement in November 2012, and were married on 23 February 2013. They had a son in April 2015. Their second son was born in July 2017.