media

Review: Death of a Gentleman

After the success and positive feedback of my last review, which looked at the quirky cricket book “The Grade Cricketer”, it seems high time that I have a closer look at another cultural cricket offering out this month.

“Death of a Gentleman” is a documentary film from cricket journalists Sam Collins and Jarrod Kimber and has been highly anticipated in the cricketing world for years. Now showing regularly in the UK, the film is set to come out on DVD soon in Australia – and it’s sure to be already turning heads amongst the cricket establishment. Continue reading →

Back on air

So, I’m back on the horseABC news reader Leslie – reading the news and helping produce radio shows at ABC NewsRadio in Sydney. That didn’t take too long.

The team is great, the content is interesting and ever-changing, and the banana bread in the canteen is pretty good too. What more could you wish for? It’s interesting how landing at the ABC means that I have, in a way, come full circle. Continue reading →

When news stops …

When the news stopsAfter finishing my final day of work at DW in mid-June, ahead of my impending return to Australia, these last two weeks of my life have been a real seachange. To start with: it’s the first time I’ve stopped working as a journalist for nearly 10 years. It’s also the first time I’ve taken a self-imposed Twitter break for over five years.

In fact, since stopping work, I’ve even avoided watching the evening news. After all, there’s been no need to appear informed at the next day’s morning meeting, so why bother to put yourself through the non-stop happiness of a typical German evening news program? Continue reading →

Social media = the news

It’s been a bit of a love-hate relationship with me for a long time: social media is really not my thing. You see – I truly, truly detest it when people showboat their achievements all the time as if they have got nothing better to do. I hated it 20 years ago when kids showed their painting to the art teacher in class saying, “it’s really not that good, Mrs McGregor, is it?”… and I hate it when people these days proudly show me how perfect their last Caribbean holiday was, even if I didn’t ask them to. I don’t know what it is that annoys me so much about it. Call it ‘tall poppy’ syndrome if you want – after all, I am Australian.

On the other hand, as a journalist, social media is becoming an important tool for my daily work. It helps me decipher what our readers, viewers and users want to find out about and it is a practical tool to really engage in dialogue with them. And, it can sometimes offer faster-moving news coverage than traditional media. Continue reading →