He had a long career with the Australian Broadcasting Commission, working on current affairs programs including This Day Tonight and Four Corners.
Couchman studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and worked for two years as an actor with the Young Elizabethan Players.
Couchman travelled to Cambodia in May 1973 with cameraman David Brill[1] to report for Four Corners on the ultimately successful campaign of the Khmer Rouge.
[6] When the ABC revamped its news and current affairs with a new program, The National, in 1985, Couchman was appointed Asian correspondent, based once more in Singapore.
[2] In 1986, Couchman wrote, produced and presented an ABC news special, Coup D'Etat, a world exclusive following the political crisis in the Philippines, the end of Marcos's regime and the swearing in of new president Corazon Aquino.
[9] From 1989 to 1992, he hosted the eponymous Couchman forum program with a similar format to Robert Moore's Monday Conference (1971–1978) and the current Q&A.