“At one point the cabinet secretary pointed out through my window to a block of flats across the water and said, ‘You realise the Chinese will be in there and they’ll have a laser on that tumbler of water, and they’ll have turned it into a microphone. They can listen to what we’re saying now’. So, the curtains came down immediately. At home, I did the same. I unplugged everything. And if I wanted to talk to my wife, we went out into the woods. We did all the things that spies are supposed to do....
Nov 08, 2023•58 min•Season 2Ep. 9
War. Environmental peril. The never-ending pandemic. No wonder audiences are tired of bad news. And in worse news for the media, that widespread news fatigue is rapidly becoming active news avoidance . Constructive journalism offers a solutions-based approach to reporting, which is appealing to audiences. But how do you convince the rest of the newsroom of its value? Australian ABC journalist Sabra Lane, The New York Times reporter Tina Rosenberg, Flint Beat founder Jiquanda Johnson and UK-based...
Aug 24, 2022•29 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Investigative reporting might make great fodder for Hollywood movies, but the reality is far from glamourous. Blockbuster investigations can take years, even decades, and require grit and determination. So, what drives this special breed of journalists? Take Chicago-based journalist Jim DeRogatis, who pivoted from pop music critic to investigative journalist when he was faxed a tip off he almost consigned to the rubbish bin. That fax had information about the crimes of Robert Sylvester Kelly, ak...
Aug 10, 2022•36 min•Season 2Ep. 7
“It's the power of the story. It's the same thing, whether it's drum and bass, or much more serious news. If you tell stories that people want to hear the end of, they are much, much more likely to consume your work, whatever it is." Ros Atkins’ relentless experimentation with finding an audience means his stories aren’t just devoured by the news cycle. His team at the BBC produce a particular type of viral video, one that starts a conversation and has staying power. On his show BBC Outside Sour...
Jul 27, 2022•32 min•Season 2Ep. 6
“I wasn't just doing what was right. I was doing what was journalistically correct.” Veteran sports reporter Jim Trotter was doing a live cross for ESPN when the host began describing American footballer Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem as “disrespectful to the flag”. Jim had a choice — to let the host’s opinions go unchecked or to report the facts. As sports arenas more frequently become platforms for cultural debate, reporters like Jim have expanded their old beat...
Jul 13, 2022•31 min•Season 2Ep. 5
“I’ve always stopped to think — well, you're a little brat from the back blocks of Brisbane and you're about to interview Paul McCartney. That is really rare. It’s very, very special.” Leigh Sales is a towering figure in Australian journalism, and after almost 12 years as the anchor of the ABC’s flagship current affairs program, 7.30, she has decided it is time for something new. She’s built her reputation on forensic cross-examination of prime ministers, as an award-winning author, a one-time w...
Jun 29, 2022•38 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In 2021, News Corp’s tabloids in Australia made a stunning announcement. For the month leading up to the Glasgow climate summit, they would be running a nationwide campaign on how to tackle climate change. Cries of hypocrisy rang out from pundits all over — including News Corps’ own — for this seeming about-face on the white-hot issue. So, was it a flash in the pan, or was it a turning point in climate change reporting of the most influential papers in Australia, from one of the biggest publishe...
Jun 15, 2022•34 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Australians have elected a new government and, in a campaign where journalists came under almost as much scrutiny as the politicians, is this a vote for change in how we report on elections too? "We want the press pack to insist on an answer. But I do think there were points in the campaign where the questioning went too far and in an unhelpful way. It became performative, where cameras were trained back on the reporters.” Guardian Australia Editor and veteran political reporter Lenore Taylor su...
May 26, 2022•27 min•Season 2Ep. 2
“I always say in journalism that everything has changed and nothing has changed," says BBC foreign correspondent Lyse Doucet, who reported from Ukraine's capital Kyiv as Russian tanks rolled into the country. The war in Ukraine shows us that history never ends, and journalists are taking extraordinary risks in composing the first draft. A key battle in this conflict is playing out online, with misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda rife, as both sides take to their phones to share their ...
May 18, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 1
For the journalists writing the first records of history, this past year has been one for the ages. In season 2 of Journo , foreign correspondents are pulling on their flak jackets and scouring new platforms like TikTok and Telegram to report on the war in Ukraine — and local reporters are taking huge risks to stay in their homes and bear witness to the atrocities of war. It’s time to unpack the tactics used to get politicians off script in the Australian federal election. We'll dive deep into t...
May 11, 2022•3 min
Covering the cut and thrust of politics is one of the most thrilling jobs in journalism. But why are reporters misreading the mood of our nations? Brexit. Trump. Australia’s surprising 2019 election outcome — all resulted in plenty of soul-searching from political journalists. What if it’s more than just faulty polling — what if it’s a basic failure to connect? Has the excitement of the #spill and race to be first with a scoop seduced political reporters away from the real work of covering issue...
Dec 15, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 8
He is one of Washington’s most recognisable and influential journalists, who became even more well-known thanks to his facial expressions in that interview with US President Donald Trump in 2020. But it wasn’t an easy road for political reporter Jonathan Swan. The Aussie print journalist’s first ever TV interview was also with President Trump — only a couple of years before his Emmy-award winning one. Only that first interview was definitely NOT a critical success! So how does this Axios journal...
Dec 01, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 7
“We have to recognise that the truth is often complex. And it's often elusive in some respects. And it's nuanced. That's not an excuse for enabling liars or for being complicit in propaganda campaigns.” From inside the Washington Post on the day the Drudge Report cracked open the Clinton scandal, through the digital disruption of the past 20 years, double Pulitzer Prize winner and Dean of Columbia Journalism School Steve Coll unpacks how the business of journalism has undergone a transformation ...
Nov 17, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 6
The daily press conference, Covid case numbers, border closures, reporting from your living room or from the silent streets of a locked down city. Barring world wars, has any event had a bigger impact on the way journalists do their jobs than this pandemic? Covid-19 has changed the way we live but also the way we cover news. For journalists, it’s meant living with the possibility of getting the virus and passing it on to their families. It has thrown science and health journalism into the spotli...
Nov 03, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Our outlook and media consumption are increasingly global, but local journalism remains more important than ever — keeping communities connected, saving lives during disasters, and holding power to account in places where few lights shine. Within weeks of Australia's first COVID lockdown, in April 2020, more than 200 regional newspapers announced they could no longer keep their presses running. Yet green shoots are sprouting in the news deserts. In some places, local news publishers are growing ...
Oct 20, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 4
“If you're targeted by Pegasus, you see nothing, you smell nothing, you taste nothing. You’re minding your own business, doing whatever it is that you do with your phone. And then it’s infected.” It might sound cloak-and-dagger, but cyber security expert John Scott-Railton says spyware poses a very real threat to journalists’ ability to do their jobs. The Pegasus Project, an international coalition of journalists, has found around 200 journalists are potential targets for surveillance by the mal...
Oct 06, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 3
China is closing its doors to foreign journalists just as it becomes the most interesting story in the world. So, is this all part of a strategy by China to control its own news at home and abroad? But with geopolitical tensions rising, China is not a place the world can afford to ignore. Nationalistic media reports produced under the watchful eye of the Chinese government are stirring suspicion of foreign media among Chinese people. Meanwhile, more than one million Australians identify as part ...
Sep 22, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 2
"You’ve got no one left to tell the story” warns Bilal Sarwary, legendary Afghan journalist, as he flees Kabul following death threats from the Taliban. Bilal’s not alone. He’s part of a new generation of journalists who’ve come of age since 9/11 who’ve been forced to abandon their homes and careers reporting on their homeland. Those reporters who do remain in Afghanistan face an uncertain future under a regime that once banned television and the internet, and who have maintained an assassinatio...
Sep 08, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Grab your press pass: Journo helps you understand how your news is made, disseminated, and consumed. After a long career as a BBC international correspondent, Nick Bryant has returned to Australia — a former posting — at a time of unprecedented media disruption and polarised politics. “I’ve seen the media industry being overtaken by so many changes and the truth is, I'm still trying to make sense of them myself,” Bryant said. “I don’t expect to come up with all the answers, nowhere near, but hop...
Sep 02, 2021•5 min
