social media

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 →

The perfect assignment?

Germany v Australia, March 2015I’ve waited a long time – nearly 10 years in fact – but finally I was able to cover my beloved Socceroos playing against Germany, in Germany! After such a long wait, I can definitely say it was worth the suspense. From an Australia supporter perspective, it was both entertaining and satisfying. But first… I should probably explain a bit about why I was there.

Together with my DW colleagues Barbara Mohr and Peter Wozny, I journeyed to Kaiserslautern to cover the evening of the game and to do a heap of social media reporting ahead of the fixture. It was a bit of a new experiment for us, focusing on video production and exclusive social media content. 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 →