Jeanette Francis (Arabic: جانيت فرانسيس), better known as Jan Fran, is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and presenter. She has worked with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), and served as co-host of current affairs and satire TV program The Feed and the podcast The Few Who Do alongside Marc Fennell.
Jan Fran | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jeannette Francis[1] 1985 (age 38–39)[2] |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Mount Saint Joseph, Milperra, University of Technology Sydney |
| Known for | The Feed |
| Spouse | Al Morrow (m. 2015) |
| Website | janfran |
Early life
Fran was born in Lebanon[3] to a Maronite Christian family. In 1989, she moved to Australia,[2] where she grew up in Bankstown in Sydney, New South Wales.[4] Fran studied journalism[2] and international studies at the University of Technology Sydney.
Career
Fran began her career as a foreign correspondent with SBS, working on Insight and Dateline.[5] For her series on women in post-war Uganda, she was nominated for a Young Walkley Award in 2012. She was a presenter on The Feed[2][6] from the program’s launch in 2013[7] until July 2019.[7] She has collaborated in various ways with co-presenter Marc Fennell.
As a presenter, Fran has hosted TV coverage of Tropfest, and has been a guest presenter on Network Ten’s The Project.[1][6] In 2017, she was made an Australia Day Ambassador.[8] Fran also hosted the series Medicine or Myth? on SBS in 2019.[9]
Fran is an ambassador for Plan International Australia and has hosted a series of podcasts called Sexism and the City which Plan commissioned.[6][10] She has also challenged the different ways in which the perpetrators of the Christchurch mosque shootings and the Orlando nightclub shooting were described and presented by the media.[11]
As of November 2019, she is writing a memoir, Of Middle Eastern Appearance, to be published by Hachette Australia.[12]
In 2021, Fran began hosting Question Everything with Wil Anderson on ABC.[13]
Personal life
In 2015, Fran married Al Morrow, an advertising director.[1]