Eliza Rugg is a journalist with Nine News Melbourne. She is currently the court reporter for Victoria, and also covers breaking news across the state. Eliza has led Nine News’ national coverage of the George Pell case.
She worked extensively behind the scenes at the County Court for months, while the trial was held in secret, and hosted rolling live coverage when the suppression order was lifted, and when the Cardinal was sentenced, and then launched a successful appeal. She has also reported on other significant cases including Bourke Street driver James Gargasoulas, Borce Ristevski, Richard Pusey, Malka Leifer, and the Lawyer X legal scandal.
Eliza was previously a reporter at Nine News Adelaide, filing live morning reports for the Today Show. She was a South Australian Young Journalist of the Year finalist, for her exclusive coverage of accused drug smuggler ‘Cocaine Cassie’. Eliza has also worked as a producer on the foreign desk at Channel 9 in Sydney, helping coordinate rolling coverage on deadly terror attacks in France, Belgium and the US.
Eliza grew up in Melbourne, and completed her studies at The University of Melbourne and RMIT University, while working as a newsreader and producer for community radio and TV. She started her career at WIN Television in regional Victoria, and spent a number of years working in the Ballarat, Bendigo and Albury bureaus. Eliza is also a published print journalist, with her writing featured in the Herald Sun and The Age. In 2013, she was awarded the Dart Centre Journalism and Trauma prize, for her profile piece on a survivor of the Bali bombings.