Malcolm Ross (13 July 1862 – 15 April 1930) was a New Zealand journalist, mountain climber, and a war correspondent during the First World War. Born in Otago, he was employed by the Otago Daily Times from 1882 until 1889, when he began working for the Union Steam Ship Company. He resumed his career as a fulltime journalist in 1897, relocating to Wellington to report on parliamentary matters. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he went to German Samoa to cover its seizure by the New Zealand Military Forces. He was selected as the official war correspondent for New Zealand, reporting on the exploits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli and in Europe. His dispatches were criticised for their boring style and lack of timeliness although the latter was mainly as a consequence of constraints placed on him by the New Zealand Government. After the war he resumed his career as a member of the press gallery covering parliament until his retirement in 1926.

Malcolm Ross was born in Saddle Hill, in Otago, New Zealand on 13 July 1862, the first son of Alexander and Mary Ross, Scottish emigrants who had arrived in the country in the 1850s. Ross was educated at Palmerston School and then went onto the University of Otago. He was active in many sports, participating in cycling, golf, running and rowing; he also represented Otago in rugby union.

After completing his formal education, he commenced work as a journalist for the Otago Daily Times (ODT) in 1882. While on assignment for the ODT covering a search for a missing climber, Ross discovered a mountain pass between Lake Manapouri and the Fiordland Sounds. Developing an interest in the area, Ross and his wife Elizabeth, who he married in 1890, often went exploring in the Southern Alps. He left his fulltime role at the ODT in 1889 to join the Union Steam Ship Company, becoming secretary to its chairman, James Mills. However, in his spare time he freelanced for the ODT.

Despite his change in vocation, Ross still went climbing. His accounts of expeditions in the mountains were published in the press, bringing attention to the sport and helping popularise climbing in New Zealand. He also wrote small publications for the tourism industry, in its infancy at the time. As he had developed an interest in photography, he illustrated his work with his own images. In 1891, Ross helped establish the New Zealand Alpine Club, serving as its founding vice-president and was also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1894, he made an unsuccessful attempt to scale Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. He succeeded in doing so in 1906, which was the fourth ascent of the mountain. In 1914, he published A Climber in New Zealand, an account of his mountaineering career.

In 1897, Ross resumed his career as a journalist when he moved his family, which now included a son, to Wellington, to report on parliamentary matters for the ODT. He also reported for a Christchurch newspaper, The Press and was soon appointed correspondent for The Age, a Melbourne newspaper, and The Times. In 1899, he spent three months in Samoa, covering the clashes for the leadership of the colony that followed the death of Malietoa Laupepa, the incumbent chief at the time. Through his work, he became well acquainted with leading politicians, including William Massey, who shared a house with Ross and his wife for a time. When parliament was in recess, Ross was a free agent and often reported on public events and produced literature on them. When Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a noted Polish pianist, toured New Zealand in 1903, Ross acted as his agent. He also interviewed notable personalities. His work tended to be lengthy narratives, and he did little daily reporting.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War on 5 August, the New Zealand Government authorised the raising of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) for service in the war. The day after the declaration of war, the British Government requested New Zealand seize the wireless station at German Samoa, a protectorate of the German Empire. Major General Alexander Godley, the Commandant of the New Zealand Military Forces, raised the Samoan Expeditionary Force with volunteers drawn primarily from New Zealand's Auckland and Wellington Military Districts. With the support of Godley, Ross went to Samoa to report on the Occupation of German Samoa. His appointment was criticised, particularly by the opponents of the Government. It was felt that Ross should represent all of the country's press rather than those newspapers that employed him.

There was further controversy when the British War Office offered each of the Dominions of the British Empire the opportunity to designate a journalist as the official war correspondent for that country. For newspapers in New Zealand to send an independent journalist to provide coverage of the activities of the country's military forces was extremely expensive so they supported the initiative. Four newspaper editors drew up a shortlist of candidates from 47 applicants with Ross among them, one of four leading candidates. It took seven months for Ross to be confirmed in the role. Some believed that Massey, now prime minister, influenced the decision, although he later said he had recused himself from the discussions regarding Ross's appointment.

The length of time it took Ross to be confirmed in his appointment meant that he did not arrive in Gallipoli to report on the New Zealand contribution to the Gallipoli campaign until June 1915, two months after the main body of the NZEF, commanded by Godley, landed there. Once there, he was constrained by the Government's insistence that the reports he dispatched be sent by sea, instead by cable. This meant that much of the initial coverage of the campaign that reached New Zealand was written by Australian correspondents, particularly Charles Bean, the official war correspondent for Australia. Once he commenced reporting from Gallipoli, his dispatches took some time to be sent to New Zealand as, unlike other correspondents, he was not permitted to cable them. Instead, they were sent by ship and by the time his articles were published they were often several weeks old and had been preempted by reports from correspondents from Britain and Australia. Ross took ill in December and consequently missed the evacuation of the ANZAC forces from Gallipoli in December. Bean wrote a report on the evacuation which appeared in New Zealand newspapers under Ross's by-line.