Matthew Carney

Matthew Carney is an Australian journalist and television producer best known for his work with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was the executive producer of Four Corners for four years following work with Foreign Correspondent.

Carney joined the ABC in 1995. He spent most of his career there and at the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). He became the executive producer of Four Corners and Foreign Correspondent after years as a reporter on both programs. He also worked as a foreign correspondent based in the Middle East for SBS, and China and Asia for the ABC.

Carney has produced more than 200 documentaries over his career and won multiple awards, including the United Nations Media Peace Prize and multiple Walkley Awards.

Early life and education Carney was born on the 11th of October 1965 in Sydney, Australia and was educated at St. Ignatius College Riverview. In 1988 he received a Bachelor of Economics (Political Science) from The University of Sydney.

Early reporting career

Carney started his career at Beyond Productions in 1989 as an assistant researcher, and after 18 months he was promoted to story producer for the television program Beyond 2000. He negotiated and produced the first extensive access into Vietnam for a series of special reports.

From 1990 until 1994 he worked for SBS Dateline as a researcher, reporter and producer. He also produced and directed for SBS Documentaries. Some highlights: rare access into West Papua and the OPM, uncovering the Korean Mafia in Australia, an investigation into Khmer Rouge war criminals living in Australia, and an exposé of corruption around a Federal Minister.

Carney joined the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1995.

Carney had some of the first extensive access inside North Korea in 1995 as a producer. He also filmed OPM rebels in West Papua, the Falintil resistance in the hills of East Timor, and the Tamil tigers in the jungles of Sri Lanka.

From 1999 to 2005, Carney set up his own production company called Twofold Films and moved to the Middle East based in Beirut. He reported, filmed, produced and directed current affairs documentaries in the warzones of Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran. He also delivered films inside Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria and Egypt. He sold his work multiple times to the world's major broadcasters including, SBS (Australia), BBC (United Kingdom), Arte (France), ZDF (Germany), NHK (Japan), and PBS (America), mostly using Journeyman Pictures as his agent. produced the first expose of Australian Special Forces secret “assassination” program which won a Walkley award, uncovered the first hard evidence of the Japanese bribing countries at the International Whaling, portrayed crystal meth addicts in a program called The Ice Age, completed investigative reports that detailed government cover ups and environmental damage in the coal seam gas rush, and triggered a government inquiry to the ambulance service in Western Australia.

North Asia correspondent, 2014-2015 For two years, Carney lead coverage on North Asia for the ABC on all media platforms (television, radio, and digital) on the strategic, economic and social aspects of the region, based out of Tokyo, Japan. and comprehensive access inside Japan's Defence forces, and the Yakuza. Carney also reported on innocents convicted to Japan's death row. Carney's story on the Hikikimori - the million young Japanese men who have turned their backs on society and have locked themselves inside their rooms - received the highest number of hits on ABC digital in 2015.

Bureau chief and China correspondent, 2015-2018 Carney became ABC's China bureau chief in 2015. He planned and executed coverage of major news events and output across North Asia on ABC platforms. One of his notable works there was "Generation Left Behind," in which he discusses the 61 million children in China who are left to grow up with no parents.

During this time he produced 5 documentaries for Foreign Correspondent, including “Last Eagle Hunters of Mongolia”, and an exposé of China's Dystopian future called “Leave No Dark Corner”.

Carney and his family were thrown out of China in late 2018.

Editorial leadership

Foreign Correspondent As executive producer from 2018 to 2022, Carney led Foreign Correspondent in tripling their audiences on digital, iView and YouTube. The Mexican Drug Cartels story he commissioned is still one of highest viewed ABC programs on YouTube at 31 million views. In 2021, Foreign Correspondent had the biggest growth on broadcast of all the current affairs programs at the ABC.

During his leadership, Carney organized coverage of the war in Ukraine, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, China, and Russia.

Four Corners Matthew Carney was the Executive Producer of Four Corners for 4 years, from 2022 to 2026. On his exit, he was lauded as one of Australia's "most respected journalists."

Carney reformed the story culture at the program, and more than doubled audiences across digital, social and broadcast to honour and uphold the 65 year tradition of Four Corners. Under his leadership Four Corners won multiple Walkley Awards.

Awards Matthew Carney's stories have been recognised with awards both in Australia and internationally.

Reporting awards

Walkley Awards Winner: 2012 Four Corners ABC 'In Their Sights' with journalist Thom Cookes Winner: 2000 Dateline SBS 'Sierra-Leone - The Cost of Peace' New York Festivals TV and Film Awards Gold medal Silver medal Rory Peck Award Runner Up: 2003 'Kirktown - A Town Divided' Runner Up: 1997 'East Timor' with cinematographer Chantel Abouchar Finalist: 2019 'Leave No Dark Corner'

Other awards

Order of Timor Leste In 2025, Carney was awarded the Order of Timor-Leste to honour two documentaries he filmed in the 1990s that demonstrated the Falintil resistance was fully operational.