Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long time now since I sat in front of a high school career counsellor in Dunedin and told them I thought I might like to be a journalist. I was post-mullet, pre-moustache and pretty much only paying attention properly in history and English.<\/p>\n
The counsellor laid out the path I\u2019d likely need to take and I duly ticked those boxes \u2013 through an undergrad degree defined more by intense socialising than intensive studying and a last gasp post-grad sealing shorthand test.<\/p>\n
So here I am today without any sense there\u2019s something else I should have done.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Grace Biber, winner of The Age Essay Prize in the 19-24 age group, with The Age\u2019s deputy editor, Mat Dunckley.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n I was reminded of that high school experience this week when I had the great pleasure of announcing the winners of The Age<\/i>\u2019s inaugural essay contest. In the room were a dozen or so young people ranging from mid-teen high schoolers to early 20-somethings.<\/p>\n They made a line to take selfies with our banner at the front the room. It was exactly the feeling that we hoped to inspire in these aspiring young writers and a great moment to reflect on the place we hold in this city.<\/p>\n Several told me that journalism was where they hoped to end up. One showing particular promise made a beeline for our national editor David King to hit him up about an overseas posting.<\/p>\n Smiling, she told me later she was \u201cgeeking out\u201d just to be part of the room. I have no doubt she\u2019ll be putting her foot into doors belonging to editors and politicians in no time.<\/p>\n In a conversation with another young man and his brother we discussed the tremendous variety of work in a newsroom \u2013 you never really know what the day is going to throw at you. These days, too, the options for a journalist to tell their story have never been broader.<\/p>\n There\u2019s the written word of course, but there\u2019s also the opportunity to make video content for our site or social media, audio, including podcasts and the expanding galaxy of digital visualisations.<\/p>\n As I\u2019m sure many of you know, our flagship podcast is Please Explain,<\/i> a daily look at the news hosted by Samantha Selinger-Morris. Last week it was judged the best daily podcast in the country. It\u2019s seriously good.<\/p>\n Please Explain<\/em> does much more than just riff on the news of the day.<\/p>\n A week ago we produced a two-day special edition on Charlotte Grieve\u2019s remarkable investigation into the deaths of Tony Cawsey and Moses Kellie.<\/p>\n It was powerful journalism featuring the voices of many of the people she wrote about in her piece for the site and newspaper. It complemented perfectly the remarkably deep reporting in her features but it is also an excellent piece of stand-alone audio.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the weekly Inside Politics\u00a0<\/em>session with Jac Maley, David Crowe and a rotating panel of guests, which runs every Friday.<\/p>\n I caught up with our head of audio Ruby Schwartz this week to get more of an insight into how her team works and what they\u2019re up to.<\/p>\n A key message is that daily podcasting doesn\u2019t really get turned around in a day. The producing team \u2013 Julia Carr-Catzel, Tammy Mills and Chee Wong \u2013 work hard to bring more narrative to the news.<\/p>\n It is not about rocking up in front of a mic and making it up on the fly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to zoom out, provide the historical context, ask what does this mean?\u201d Schwartz told me.<\/p>\n That takes planning. The team will spend the day or two before an episode organising, strategising and pre-interviewing journalists.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the post-show work where they\u2019ll gather audio from other sources or news reports to really bring the story home to listeners. Music is mixed in and the whole piece is put through a ringer of reviews with suggested tweaks, edits and re-records.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard work but you can hear it when you listen (which I usually do out for a run around the creeks).<\/p>\n Our podcast stable is growing strongly as well as including some longer running favourites like Real Footy <\/em>,<\/em> and Good Weekend Talks<\/em> featuring in-depth interviews with interesting people.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been fascinating, too, to see how our journalists have taken to podcasting as a way to reach a wider audience for their stories.<\/p>\n As investigations editor it is now a common part of the rollout of our biggest pieces to alert Schwartz and her team to book in reporters such as Nick McKenzie to talk through their latest work.<\/p>\n Schwartz says she\u2019s got some ideas about where we might go next with our audio offering and we will likely hear more about that in the new year.<\/p>\n One thing she did call out is that we want to be doing more of those miniseries. Aside from Grieve\u2019s work, a Please Explain<\/i> special bouncing out of Eryk Bagshaw\u2019s investigation into abductions in Japan was part of the podcast\u2019s award-winning entry.<\/p>\n Heading into 2024, we would love to know what episodes you\u2019re enjoying or what more you want to hear. You can email Schwartz here and, as always, our editor Patrick Elligett would be happy to hear from you too.<\/p>\n She\u2019s also thinking about how to get a little more reader involvement: \u201cIf we\u2019re covering a story where people are very affected like rising costs of living \u2013 we\u2019d love voice memos from them.\u201d<\/p>\n That sounds good! Much like Please Explain.<\/i><\/p>\nMost Viewed in National<\/h2>\n
From our partners<\/h3>\n