Legendary presenter and journalist Anton Enus is retiring from SBS after 27 years at the public broadcaster.
He will present his final bulletin of the SBS World News on Friday, 11 September.
Emnus joined SBS in 1999 after working for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, where he covered landmark events including that country’s return to democracy in 1994.
He presented and reported on some of the biggest news stories of the 21st century, including the Walk for Reconciliation in 2000, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Cronulla riots in 2005, and anchoring the news from Berlin for six weeks during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Earlier this year, he informed many Australians that war had broken out in Iran on a Saturday night in March.
“I will miss that flashing red light in the studio that says ‘ON AIR’, the immediacy of crossing to a reporter in the middle of a hurricane, the importance of being part of a team telling the stories of people that sometimes get ignored. I don’t think it’s too grand to say those things, the nuts-and-bolts of public broadcasting, shore up the kind of society we think of when we evoke modern Australia,” Enus said.
“It seems extraordinary that the time has passed so quickly. It feels like just the other day that I walked into the newsroom for the first time, a newly arrived migrant from South Africa, looking for a job – any job.
“I was given a professional home and embraced by this family of broadcasters in a way that for me epitomised what multicultural Australia is all about. We are many but we’re also one. I will enjoy following SBS World News from afar.”
SBS managing director Jane Palfreyman said: “Anton has been a trusted face for SBS’s audience for over a quarter of a century and is a much-loved and valued member of the SBS newsroom and studio. We will miss him as much as our audience will. We want to congratulate him on a stellar journalistic career in Australia and beyond, and thank him for the brilliant service he has given our network. We wish him a happy retirement.’’
