John Martinkus

John Martinkus (9 March 1969 – 14 September 2025) was an Australian print and television journalist known for his reporting from conflict zones.

He began reporting from Indonesian-occupied East Timor in 1995 and set up base there permanently in 1998. His reporting for Associated Press helped sway the international community to send in a UN peacekeeping force in late 1999 after the Indonesian military reacted violently to a UN-held referendum in which 78.5% of East Timorese voted for independence.

He reported extensively from Papua and Aceh in Indonesia, two provinces which have also had long-running wars for independence.

He also reported from Afghanistan and Iraq. In October 2004, he was kidnapped outside his hotel in Baghdad by Sunni insurgents who released him 24 hours later after using Google to verify his status as a journalist.

In 2011, Martinkus was commissioned to travel to Afghanistan as the Official Australian War Cinematographer for the Australian War Memorial.

Martinkus lived in Melbourne, Victoria. He previously taught in the School of Journalism, Media and Communications at the University of Tasmania.

Martinkus died in Melbourne on 14 September 2025.