Nick Bryant speaks to four solutions journalists on how to re-engage gloom-fatigued news audiences.

Nick Bryant speaks to two very different investigative journalists about the tools of their trade.

“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...

“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...

“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...

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...

Where to now for political journalism?

“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...

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...

Veteran journalist Malcolm Farr, who has covered every election since 1993, and Amanda Copp, Political Reporter from the Community Radio Network's National Newsroom are taking you 'Inside the Media Scrum' during the Australian federal election campaign. They're looking at how and why the media is covering the election the way it is. There are weekly podcasts as well as bonus episodes featuring some of Australia's most important newsroom leaders. Follow Listen at JNI in your favourite...

Brexit, Trump, the 2019 Australian election: why do reporters misread their nations' mood?

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...

“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...

Reporting from the frontlines of the pandemic

The trials and triumphs of local and regional journalism in a time of news deserts.

“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...

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...

“A brilliant idea cooked up in Doha” — why Taliban 2.0 doesn’t fool Afghan journalists

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...