S03E12: Wing Kuang on Starting a Career in Journalism

“What makes you different from your peers who also want to get a job in journalism? ABC audio producer and digital reporter Wing Kuang is an expert at turning a disadvantage into an asset. Having first come to Australia as an international student, she encountered a lot of barriers to finding a jo…

S03E11: Kirsti Melville on Working with Sound

“The minute I walk into that space, I turn my audio ears on.” ABC broadcaster Kirsti Melville is an award-winning radio documentary maker, who always starts planning for an audio feature by thinking about sound. Melville describes how she triages the audio in any recording environment, and how she…

S03E10: Tamara Oudyn on Voice in Audio Journalism

“Your voice is such a personal quality…It’s like your own aural fingerprint.” As an ABC voice coach and journalist, Tamara Oudyn is shaping the diverse voices of the national broadcaster. Here she describes the lessons she teaches cadets, including the role of the 3ps - pitch, pace and pausing - i…

S0309: Jo Lauder on Audio Storytelling

"The thing that I love about audio is that...it's really intimate." ABC journalist Jo Lauder says audio can be really effective in transporting the listener to a particular time and place. She explains how she goes about planning different types of audio pieces, whether for Triple J's Hack or long…

S03E08: Daniel Browning on Objectivity in Journalism

“Who measures objectivity? Who judges objectivity?” Objectivity is traditionally seen as a cardinal tenet of journalism, but Daniel Browning's long experience in Australian newsrooms has left him questioning whether objectivity is possible, or even beneficial. The Bundjalung and Kullili man, who …

S03E07: Konrad Marshall on the Craft of Feature Writing

“Always get the name of the dog, the brand of the beer, and the title of the song that was playing as the car crashed off the road.” This is one writing commandment that the award-winning writer for Good Weekend Konrad Marshall keeps top of mind, as told to him by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom French.…

S03E06: Stephanie Convery on Feature Stories

“Focus on the intimate and particular.” When it comes to feature writing, Stephanie Convery says it is often the small details that count. Her work with Guardian Australia involves shining a light on inequality, and frequently focuses on people’s personal circumstances. She likens features to crea…

S03E05: Laura Murphy-Oates on Interviewing

“You can’t go in with no idea of what you might hope to get out of it, but you have to be open to what happens in the interview.” As former host of Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast, Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to people for a living. Here she outlines her rules for interviewing, including the…

S03E04: Saffron Howden on Writing News Stories

"If you haven't grabbed the readers' attention within the first 10-12 words, you lose them." Saffron Howden's job is training journalists how to write news for Australian Community Media. She sees news journalists as storytellers dealing in facts, who need to always be thinking about their audienc…

S03E03: Nick McKenzie on Ethics and Defamation

"It's about fairness in the search for the truth, and fairness in publishing our stories." The Age's Nick McKenzie has put fairness at the centre of his journalistic identity. It's led him to break some of the nation's biggest stories, winning him 16 Walkleys, but also has meant he's been sued for…