Change of faces at Peninsula News

Peninsula News journalist Jackie Pearson is leaving the paper after four years to take up a position with a local politician.

She will be replaced by veteran journalist Bernie Leo.

Unlike Jackie, Bernie will work exclusively for Peninsula News as senior journalist.

Bernie Leo has been a journalist all of his working life, spanning 48 years.

He started out at The Border Mail in Albury covering a number of beats and was recruited at an early age to work for The China Mail, a daily newspaper in Hong Kong.

On returning to Australia, he reported again for The Border Mail before joining News Corp at The Adelaide News.

He transferred to Perth where he was deputy sports editor on The Sunday Times before his final News Corp transfer to The Daily Telegraph in Sydney.

He spent seven years at The Daily Telegraph before joining The Australian Financial Review for the next 10 years.

While at the Financial Review, he held a number of senior positions, including chief sub-editor, production editor and associate editor.

Bernie took a year off after leaving the Financial Review before joining The Bulletin.

After seven years there, Bernie was contemplating a job change when he was approached by the Shanghai Daily with an offer that was too good to refuse.

He spent the next five years in China, editing and heavily rewriting the front three pages of the Shanghai Daily, a position where diplomacy was essential.

Bernie was head-hunted in 2010 and joined The Phnom Penh Post as editor-in-chief.

He spent a year there but said he found the politics of Cambodia unbearable and fled back to Sydney to rejoin the Financial Review.

He decided in 2015 to work from home as a freelancer, which he has been doing until now.

As we welcome our new Senior Journalists we also say goodbye to Jackie Pearson.

Jackie has been an integral part of Central Coast Newspapers since 2015 and she will be dearly missed.