Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. You're joined by journalists Sophie
Speaker 1: and Amy Torbert for a special episode we've decided to
Speaker 1: call Confessions of a TV Reporter. Now. For those who
Speaker 1: are OG listeners, you'll know we started our careers in
Speaker 1: the media before launching our public relations firm, the PR Bible,
Speaker 1: and we do get asked a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: what it is really like to be a TV reporter,
Speaker 1: So we thought we'd address some of our favorite questions
Speaker 1: we've got along the way. I mean, I always get
Speaker 1: asked how you and I actually got into the industry,
Speaker 1: and people might be surprised to know our parents are teachers,
Speaker 1: so we didn't have any sort of uncle or AUNTI
Speaker 1: your parent that was involved in the media, which really.
Speaker 2: Doesn't help you out, does it. No, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: So we all studied a journalism degree and did a
Speaker 1: master's in journalism as well, and basically just hit up
Speaker 1: every news station, every newspaper to get work experience whilst
Speaker 1: we were at UNI, And for those who are at UNI,
Speaker 1: it really is worth it because that's the only way
Speaker 1: you can, you know, gain those connections.
Speaker 2: They're going to get your foot in the door.
Speaker 1: Well, the big connection that helped me get my foot
Speaker 1: in the door was the fact that I happened to
Speaker 1: play tennis alongside one of the Channel ten reporters, and
Speaker 1: that was because we actually, Kate, soph and I. We
Speaker 1: actually got invited to do some work at ten after
Speaker 1: a news industry night, so we started writing the weather
Speaker 1: and my favorite thing to do was there was a
Speaker 1: button where you could change the weather to snow. That
Speaker 1: was never ever used because it doesn't snow in Adelage,
Speaker 1: but that was the best. But yeah, I joined the
Speaker 1: ten tennis team and one of the lovely reporters tipped
Speaker 1: me off that there was a job going at Today
Speaker 1: tonight and I should put my hand up for it
Speaker 1: as a sort of producer slash researcher role. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you were saying before we were invited in for work experience,
Speaker 1: and that was because our group actually won the news night.
Speaker 1: So it does pay off to really put in the
Speaker 1: hard yards at UNI because we put together each a
Speaker 1: different news story, a TV news story, and that's when
Speaker 1: all of the industry leaders were basically the judging who
Speaker 1: they liked the best.
Speaker 2: So luckily we went. It was like.
Speaker 1: Australian idol that judging Panawa. They did not hold back,
Speaker 1: did they. I remember one guy I got told he
Speaker 1: was Wooden and then his last name was wood I
Speaker 1: mean he is now working in the industry and doing
Speaker 1: very well.
Speaker 2: So it doesn't always tore people to shreds.
Speaker 1: It was, oh, your voice isn't good, you don't look
Speaker 1: good on camera. So that is something in journalism you
Speaker 1: do have to have a very very thick skin. One
Speaker 1: of our big breaks, I suppose you call it, while
Speaker 1: we're at UNI was doing sa NFL, which is a
Speaker 1: South Australian football league for those who don't know. So
Speaker 1: we did sports reporting for them, and I think they
Speaker 1: thought it was a little bit of a gimmick, the
Speaker 1: fact that it was three girls and the fact that
Speaker 1: we were triplets.
Speaker 2: And I remember, you know, we.
Speaker 1: Were so excited when they said that we could do
Speaker 1: the match reporting and then they made us pose in
Speaker 1: this photo of us or looking out at the game,
Speaker 1: and it was so embarrassing. But I remember you and
Speaker 1: Kate being quite shocked when you guys reported on your
Speaker 1: first game. You've got to tell everybody what happened when
Speaker 1: you went into the chains. The chain drooms can be
Speaker 1: a very daunting place to go into, especially for a female.
Speaker 1: Kate and I walked in to interview the coach and
Speaker 1: literally all the players were just in the nude and
Speaker 1: you just felt like the biggest perv and it was
Speaker 1: really uncomfortable. I mean we were probably twenty one twenty two,
Speaker 1: and you get the vibe that everyone thinks that you
Speaker 1: want to be in there, and like, really, I since
Speaker 1: the age of seventeen, I wanted to be a sports
Speaker 1: journalist and have changed my mind obviously along the way,
Speaker 1: but I really loved football and I really wanted to
Speaker 1: be taken seriously. So it was quite a confronting situation
Speaker 1: when people think that you are there just to talk
Speaker 1: to the players or gork at the players. We're talking
Speaker 1: about confronting situations. I remember my sort of first real
Speaker 1: journalism job, and that was at a current Affairs style
Speaker 1: program and I remember walking in and I got sent
Speaker 1: straight into a meeting and it was just everything you
Speaker 1: think it's going to be. It was hilarious. I had
Speaker 1: so much fun in this meeting. They were talking about
Speaker 1: cookie diet and all this kind of stuff like neighbors
Speaker 1: from Hell, and I was just licking my lips. I
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, this is so interesting. And I remember
Speaker 1: I got sent out with one of the reporters and
Speaker 1: I had to put a hidden camera in my bag
Speaker 1: because we were doing a sting on this. I'm sure
Speaker 1: people remember at Studio two thousand, remember they used to
Speaker 1: hand out you know, flyers and you could apparently get
Speaker 1: a free shoot, but the photos turned out being really expensive.
Speaker 1: So remember the first few weeks I got sent out
Speaker 1: undercover to do a shoot with Studio two thousand, and
Speaker 1: they did your hair and makeup. It was humiliating, like
Speaker 1: they made us look like dead set idiots. Isn't that
Speaker 1: just what you would picture in a current affair style
Speaker 1: program to be like? It lived up to every expectation
Speaker 1: hearing about your first day did. I genuinely had so
Speaker 1: much fun there. Though it was a good environment to
Speaker 1: learn a lot. My entrance into my big break was
Speaker 1: a bit longer than yours.
Speaker 2: I did a lot of shit kicker jobs.
Speaker 1: I think that people think the second you step in
Speaker 1: the door at a TV station, you're going to be
Speaker 1: on TV. I did the really long route. I did
Speaker 1: AUTOQ for many years. I listened to scanners early on
Speaker 1: Saturday mornings. I basically did everything just to get my
Speaker 1: job and finally get noticed. And a lot of it
Speaker 1: did come from if anyone is out there trying to
Speaker 1: get their break, is you've really got to start coming
Speaker 1: up with your own story ideas and just really pitching
Speaker 1: and talking to the boss. I used to be so
Speaker 1: scared about Boss Terry, who we actually work with now
Speaker 1: and who I absolutely adore, But it's just breaking down
Speaker 1: those barriers and making those connections.
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely.
Speaker 1: Another question that we get asked a lot is about
Speaker 1: the industry's focus on appearance and whether there are any guidelines,
Speaker 1: And there are heaps of guidelines out there, so there
Speaker 1: are so many. There's a style guide, so a number
Speaker 1: of networks I've been out, they've had specifically outlined what
Speaker 1: colors you're allowed to wear, what jewelry you know is
Speaker 1: actually pretty much no jury.
Speaker 2: You're allowed to wear hairstyles. I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember at one TV station I worked out, there
Speaker 1: was an ongoing joke that the boss only liked women
Speaker 1: with blonde bobs because literally all the women on staff
Speaker 1: had blonde bobs. And luckily for me, my hair was
Speaker 1: a blonde bob at the time, so it was quite good.
Speaker 2: Well, when I was on my Cadet Chip.
Speaker 1: We actually had a whole class that was a makeup
Speaker 1: class that was actually really cool. So one of the
Speaker 1: makeup artists who does all the news presenters makeup came
Speaker 1: and spoke to us and she even showed the men
Speaker 1: how to put makeup on, which was pretty funny. Like
Speaker 1: they've got this eyebrow gel that they have to smooth
Speaker 1: their eyebrows with, and a lot of the hard core
Speaker 1: male journals will actually wear foundation and a bit of
Speaker 1: powder over the top, which is I must admit, it
Speaker 1: was pretty hilarious to watch them put it on because.
Speaker 2: They love it. I think they really get into it.
Speaker 1: And as a man, you're also if you're out on
Speaker 1: the road and you've got a beautiful pair of pants
Speaker 1: with pockets, you're not allowed to put a phone in
Speaker 1: those pockets because you cannot crease those pants. Despite them
Speaker 1: never really being on camera. Well, I absolutely love makeup,
Speaker 1: so for me, I found it really fun every day
Speaker 1: to do my makeup really nicely. But you know it
Speaker 1: is for those who love the more casual look. It
Speaker 1: can be quite daunting. If anyone listening is preparing to
Speaker 1: be interviewed on TV or is actually wanting to be
Speaker 1: a journalist, you do have to wear really over the
Speaker 1: top makeup because the camera just really washes you out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't pick it up. The other thing that comes
Speaker 1: along with, I suppose this image obsessed industry is the
Speaker 1: continual criticism about your appearance, though, because especially when you're
Speaker 1: starting out, you don't really know what colors work for you.
Speaker 1: And I remember being told by one of this style
Speaker 1: people that they couldn't see my eyebrows, so I had
Speaker 1: to draw them in. I had a camera man tell
Speaker 1: me I looked green on camera. That's always great when
Speaker 1: you're trying hard and you get told you look green.
Speaker 1: I remember one particular piece to camera and my hair
Speaker 1: was blowing in the wind and the cameraman was just
Speaker 1: getting really irritated at me because my hair wasn't heavy
Speaker 1: enough to sit down and it wasn't thick enough. My
Speaker 1: hair has always been one of my insecurities. So the
Speaker 1: next day I went out and got some clip in
Speaker 1: hair extensions, and it looks so much better on camera.
Speaker 1: But for anyone who's worn them, if you've got a
Speaker 1: twelve hour day starting at six am, it is so
Speaker 1: uncomfortable and is so time consuming. I remember doing what
Speaker 1: they call a piece to camera. That's a bit that
Speaker 1: the reporter obviously says in front of the camera.
Speaker 2: I remember doing one.
Speaker 1: In the studio at a particular news station, and at
Speaker 1: this station, everything that happens in studio feeds into the
Speaker 1: televisions of the other people working there, so they had
Speaker 1: a TV in the makeup and hair part of the office,
Speaker 1: and I remember being buzzed. It was like, could you
Speaker 1: please come to hair and makeup immediately? And they were
Speaker 1: just like, your hair looks basically shit, like we need
Speaker 1: to fix it. And I remember they did it, and
Speaker 1: I thought I looked so stupid, it was so buffy,
Speaker 1: and I was actually so embarrassed about it.
Speaker 2: You did get the tag of being a bit scruffy sometimes,
Speaker 2: Oh I know.
Speaker 1: I got told that I looked like I just sort
Speaker 1: of woke up and threw my clothes, which I'm sorry
Speaker 1: when on my alarm, when if at four thirty I
Speaker 1: did just get up and throw my clothes on Well,
Speaker 1: it was really unfair because Amy was a full time
Speaker 1: employee and I was a freelancer. And she got this
Speaker 1: whole wardrobe bought for her all new jackets, dresses, and
Speaker 1: she even had a little cupboard at work that was
Speaker 1: built in where you could just go to your cupboard
Speaker 1: if you want to change your clothes, and I literally
Speaker 1: had to fork out for all of my own stuff.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that time that we wrapped up to
Speaker 1: work in the same outfit?
Speaker 2: Oh, that was so embarrassing. This is when we lived together.
Speaker 1: So I happened to leave earlier than Sophie that morning,
Speaker 1: and then I arrived and she and I were both
Speaker 1: wearing white tops and blue blazers and we were like.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: The worst thing is it wouldn't have mattered on a
Speaker 1: normal day because we would have been out at different things.
Speaker 1: But the only time ever we've been sent out on
Speaker 1: a story together, and it was a stakeout of Billie Brownless.
Speaker 2: Oh, I still feel a little.
Speaker 1: Bit bad about that now that this happened. When drimble
Speaker 1: that controversy Billy Brown, this is of course one of
Speaker 1: the male hosts that were on the Footy Show, and
Speaker 1: there was that big scandal about his wife hooking up
Speaker 1: with Gary Lyon, and so he kind of was in
Speaker 1: Adelaide and he was showing his face for the first time.
Speaker 1: So it was quite an important story. People wanted to
Speaker 1: get him on camera. So I got sent to sit
Speaker 1: in the crowd and I suppose to get sneaky phone
Speaker 1: shots of him. He was appearing at a local football club,
Speaker 1: and then soph was sent out the front to bounce him.
Speaker 1: And when they say bounce, that means you know, when
Speaker 1: the reporters run up with the camera and they're like, Billy,
Speaker 1: how's it going. Have you had from your wife? How's
Speaker 1: your friendship with Gary Lyon going?
Speaker 2: That kind of thing?
Speaker 1: So I looked like a massive dick. I went up
Speaker 1: and I took a photo with Billy so I could
Speaker 1: get close to film, in which I felt so bad about,
Speaker 1: and then he's bounced by my identical systory outside. It
Speaker 1: was so funny because I literally sat outside all day
Speaker 1: with the cameraman and soundo and Amy was inside, she said, and.
Speaker 2: A few people spotted up outside with the.
Speaker 1: Camera and they're like, what parasides sitting out there waiting,
Speaker 1: and Amy was just like, yeah, terrible, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It's so terrible.
Speaker 1: I did get Billy to say something, though, I killed
Speaker 1: him with kindness instead of being very aggressive.
Speaker 2: What did you say to him?
Speaker 1: I think I just said, how are you enjoying the
Speaker 1: day and he's like, yes, it's good, thank you, and
Speaker 1: they used that grap. Well, we did get praised heavily,
Speaker 1: didn't we because we Actually that's the thing. You do,
Speaker 1: these things that you feel bad about, but you get
Speaker 1: kind of praise and you're like, oh, okay, I did good.
Speaker 1: And steakhouts are something that is a regular occurrence on
Speaker 1: the job.
Speaker 2: It is. It can be very boring.
Speaker 1: It depends because I remember I got sent out. It
Speaker 1: was to some kind of home invasion or something like that.
Speaker 1: A poor woman got hit over the head with a crowbar,
Speaker 1: and I remember rocking up at about six thirty in
Speaker 1: the morning and we were waiting. I think we're waiting
Speaker 1: to see if she returned home. I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: first thing you want to see when you've returned home
Speaker 1: from a horrific injury, is it? News reporters on your
Speaker 1: front doorstep? But I remember it was all the networks
Speaker 1: had waited and we'd got interviews with neighbors and stuff,
Speaker 1: and we had a jolly old time. We was sitting
Speaker 1: out in the sun on the gate, sorry, on the
Speaker 1: fence out there, and a lady brought us water and cookies,
Speaker 1: which is a very rare occurrence. People normally tell you
Speaker 1: to piss off and get a real job. Well, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of mind games that happen on steakhouts
Speaker 1: because you're obviously there with the other networks. And there
Speaker 1: are occasions where I had to pretend that I was leaving,
Speaker 1: so we drive around the block, wait for about ten minutes,
Speaker 1: then drive back hoping that the other crew had left.
Speaker 2: Well, because that's a thing.
Speaker 1: So for those who don't know, most of the time
Speaker 1: the steakhouts go for such a long time because none
Speaker 1: of the networks want to fold because the big fear
Speaker 1: is that if you miss someone and someone else gets it,
Speaker 1: you're going to get in trouble because that's going to
Speaker 1: be what they call an exclusive. So most of the
Speaker 1: time it just gets pushed out because everyone refuses to leave.
Speaker 1: We've both been on jobs where a competitor has left
Speaker 1: a car. Yeah, so sometimes say there'll be you know,
Speaker 1: the person you want to speak to isn't home. Sometimes
Speaker 1: a reporter will leave their business card in the door,
Speaker 1: and the question is always do you leave.
Speaker 2: It there and be a good person or do.
Speaker 1: You throw it away now? So, if you have you
Speaker 1: thrown any business cards away before no.
Speaker 2: I actually haven't, but I hear that you have. Well
Speaker 2: I didn't know.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what's such a bad thing because I'd
Speaker 1: had it drilled into my head. You know, you've got
Speaker 1: to get the exclusive. You got to you gotta win
Speaker 1: and do this. And I remember once I've never I
Speaker 1: never normally did it, but I've been to some specific
Speaker 1: training and I saw the card there and this particular
Speaker 1: reporter had been a bit of a dick, so I thought,
Speaker 1: I'll take that card with me. Well, it is a
Speaker 1: bit lazy, I mean maybe because I never had my
Speaker 1: own card until I worked at Today tonight. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't have a card, so I didn't end up
Speaker 1: playing those games. Well, there is someone who did a
Speaker 1: little bit worse than that. There was a reporter who
Speaker 1: climbed through a nursing home window just to try and
Speaker 1: get that exclusive. I think that might be going a
Speaker 1: little bit too far, but I supposed talking about going
Speaker 1: too far. I know we've both faced backlash while out
Speaker 1: in the public about particular stories we've done. And I
Speaker 1: think one of my favorite stories has to be about
Speaker 1: when I was working at a particular current affairs show
Speaker 1: and we had done a story about solariums. And obviously
Speaker 1: now there aren't any solariums around in South Australia. But
Speaker 1: before you used to be able to go in, and
Speaker 1: there was meant to be some kind of system in place.
Speaker 1: So when you walked in, they gave you a sort
Speaker 1: of sheet to fill out. And if you had really
Speaker 1: pale skin, I think it was class A skin or
Speaker 1: whatever it's called, you weren't meant to be able to
Speaker 1: get a solarium tan. So if you were like a
Speaker 1: bit pale, or you had fair hair anyway, they decided
Speaker 1: to send myself and another friend in. So and that
Speaker 1: was because you guys had very fair skin.
Speaker 2: I was told I had fair skin. I was quiet,
Speaker 2: I was quite.
Speaker 1: You do have fair skin anyway. So yeah, we were
Speaker 1: told to purposely make our scores low. So then they'd
Speaker 1: question us about it and be like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: like whether they'd encourage us to bump it up or whatever.
Speaker 1: And there were some places that did say, oh no, no,
Speaker 1: just give that a two and whatever and you can
Speaker 1: come in. So I remember sitting at dinner. You were there,
Speaker 1: soph and it was Kay and our bestie Owen, and
Speaker 1: we were just at this beautiful pizza place, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, this man walks up to me and
Speaker 1: he goes, you're that girl on that show, aren't you?
Speaker 1: And I said what and he's like, you know that show?
Speaker 1: And I said, oh yeah, and he's like, how dare
Speaker 1: you come into my scelarium and put such a story on,
Speaker 1: and like just went off at me. I was so embarrassed,
Speaker 1: and then I had to try and diffuse the situation.
Speaker 1: It's all very, very awkward. You also do face a
Speaker 1: little criticism from your senior colleagues. I had worked this really,
Speaker 1: really long day and I remember being quite happy with
Speaker 1: my story and relief that it went to air on time,
Speaker 1: and then I copped a phone call from my boss saying, oh,
Speaker 1: you pronounced kilometer wrong. It's killer meter not and that
Speaker 1: was I was just at the end of my tether
Speaker 1: in that situation. But it's you'll always get I remember,
Speaker 1: you got a super wrong, and you just get absolutely
Speaker 1: scolded for the small if the good thing is I mean,
Speaker 1: it is bad to get those small things wrong if
Speaker 1: there is a way that you meant to say it,
Speaker 1: and it does make you never forget those small things
Speaker 1: like how to say kilometer and all of that. It
Speaker 1: is funny though, there's a lot of things that are
Speaker 1: pronounced a certain way on the news, like in South
Speaker 1: Australia they all say Peter phile if they're the news,
Speaker 1: the news reporter. Well, I can't stand people saying schedule
Speaker 1: Now it is one hundred percent schedule if you're speaking
Speaker 1: the English language, and I get so mad at Brandon
Speaker 1: for saying schedule. That's your boyfriend, of course. Yes, Other
Speaker 1: than getting in trouble for saying things, there's also issues
Speaker 1: on the road that could get you in trouble. A
Speaker 1: lot of dangerous situations that you actually find yourself in.
Speaker 1: I mean one of those situations is when you have
Speaker 1: to knock on people's doors. So if you're working as
Speaker 1: the early journal you start at five point thirty and
Speaker 1: you basically see what's happened overnight. There might be a
Speaker 1: fire or a crime or whatever, and you get sent
Speaker 1: out to that. So you've got to start door knocking
Speaker 1: people about the event that's gone on. And I don't
Speaker 1: know about you, but I wouldn't want people knocking on
Speaker 1: my door that early. And you can, and you can
Speaker 1: find yourself in quite dangerous situations. So if you had
Speaker 1: one in Elizabeth, which is an area in South Australia's North,
Speaker 1: which isn't the most amazing place to live. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was sent to this molotov cocktail attack and I was
Speaker 1: getting ready to do a piece to camera and we
Speaker 1: got to tip off from one of the neighbors that
Speaker 1: the owner whose house was attacked he was in a
Speaker 1: pretty foul mood about the whole thing and didn't like
Speaker 1: the fact that media were there. And it actually interrupted
Speaker 1: one of the other journalists who was their piece to camera,
Speaker 1: so he said, Oh, he's running around with a bat
Speaker 1: and pretty angry, so you might want to do it quickly.
Speaker 1: And I had a full light set up and I
Speaker 1: felt so stressed because it literally was the quickest piece
Speaker 1: of camera I've ever done, because once I got through
Speaker 1: the third take, we actually we saw him out of
Speaker 1: the corner of our eye running towards us, so we
Speaker 1: had to like leap back in the car.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: I remember getting sent to a story and it was
Speaker 1: somewhere up north and it was just it was something
Speaker 1: to do with some prisoner that had escaped and they
Speaker 1: thought he was at his family's homes. We had to
Speaker 1: go knock on the door and I remember the woman
Speaker 1: whose house it was, Her daughter answered the door, and
Speaker 1: this massive like great dane came to the door with
Speaker 1: her and started barking at everyone, and she say, sorry,
Speaker 1: mom's still in bed and she can't talk. So we
Speaker 1: had to stand on the street and sort of stake
Speaker 1: out the place in case she came out to get
Speaker 1: comment from her.
Speaker 2: I remember hearing.
Speaker 1: This dog just barking and barking, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden I noticed there was this cute elderly couple
Speaker 1: walking their little Maltese past the house, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, the huge great dane shot out the door
Speaker 1: and starts mauling this dog.
Speaker 2: And I remember my.
Speaker 1: First instinct was I said to the cameraman, are you
Speaker 1: filming this? And then I felt so bad because I
Speaker 1: could just see in my head like I didn't you
Speaker 1: know what was about to happen.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to see the dog die.
Speaker 1: And then they somehow managed to get the maltese out
Speaker 1: of the dog's mouth, and then the dog ran off. Anyway,
Speaker 1: this all like, can you imagine what a difficult story
Speaker 1: this is now to put together. There's a somebody that's
Speaker 1: escaped prison. The person's in the house, there's a dog
Speaker 1: attack on the street.
Speaker 2: Sound sensational. It was a story in the end.
Speaker 1: But what was the most hilarious thing was a few
Speaker 1: days later I heard something over the scanners about a
Speaker 1: dog attack and that the council was coming or something,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 2: Was like, I bet that's that dog.
Speaker 1: So on a whim, we just drove out to the
Speaker 1: address and we found the RSPCA like leading the dog
Speaker 1: out to take it away, and it had mouled the
Speaker 1: kid inside. The kid was fine after a little while.
Speaker 2: But how crazy is that?
Speaker 1: So you got two good stories out of that one?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 2: I did.
Speaker 1: Now, when we say good, it sounds all because I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: great pictures. We don't actually mean that their nice photos
Speaker 1: is just But it's a very newsworthy story, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And the fact we've got that as an exclusive, And
Speaker 1: another huge thing in journalism is the exclusive. If you
Speaker 1: can have the word exclusive flashing on your report, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, your news boss is going to love you.
Speaker 1: And at the moment there's obviously huge bushfires in Queensland
Speaker 1: and New South Wales which have kind of reminded us
Speaker 1: a lot of our time reporting because I'm you reported
Speaker 1: on two of the biggest bushfires in South Australia. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: the first bushfire I reported on was the Samps and
Speaker 1: flat fires, and I was one of the first journalists
Speaker 1: who got sent out. I don't think they realized at
Speaker 1: the time how big it actually was. And this was
Speaker 1: the first fire I'd ever been in to. It only
Speaker 1: just really had the fire training, and so you have
Speaker 1: to get all kitted up in your fire suit. And
Speaker 1: so many people who might do live crosses from the
Speaker 1: fire scene, they actually don't really get anywhere close to
Speaker 1: the fire, so they always put their suits on, have.
Speaker 2: To roll on the ground to make it look not
Speaker 2: so clean.
Speaker 1: Any I remember going and doing interviews with people who
Speaker 1: were in the fire zone area, and I remember ringing
Speaker 1: my chief of staff to tell them about the interviews
Speaker 1: I've got and I said casually, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: do you want us to stay around here or leave?
Speaker 2: It's like where are you? And I told her She's like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, get the fuck out of there.
Speaker 1: The fires are coming. So we had to just speed out.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: I remember it was so I was with this cameraman
Speaker 1: who was so lovely, and we because what happens in
Speaker 1: a fire situation is obviously the police carding off the
Speaker 1: roads to keep people safe. But as a journalist, your
Speaker 1: job is to get in there and get those pictures
Speaker 1: and get that story, so you have to try and
Speaker 1: sneak past the police and so on the map, I
Speaker 1: found there was a road, like a secret sort of
Speaker 1: dirt road that led into one of the areas that
Speaker 1: we wanted to film anyway, so we use this track
Speaker 1: a lot, and one day we were one morning, we
Speaker 1: were driving on this track to get to this area,
Speaker 1: and a tree had fallen across it. And when I
Speaker 1: say tree, it was probably a huge branch maybe instead
Speaker 1: of a tree anyway, extremely heavy to lift, and I
Speaker 1: remember we were just like, oh no, we're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to get here now. All the other
Speaker 1: roads are closed. So we were like, okay, we'll try
Speaker 1: and move it.
Speaker 2: Somehow. We wish we'd.
Speaker 1: Filmed it because we didn't want to get in trouble
Speaker 1: like having vision of us doing it. But we somehow
Speaker 1: gathered this extra human strength and dragged the fucking branch
Speaker 1: off the road and drove through.
Speaker 2: It was crazy.
Speaker 1: In those high pressure situations, you do get really shocked
Speaker 1: by what you can do. Another question we get quite
Speaker 1: a lot is what is it like to work with
Speaker 1: people who are on TV?
Speaker 2: Hmmm, that is an interesting one.
Speaker 1: I think what you'll find is that the cameramen become
Speaker 1: your best friends because they are the most down to earth, knowledgeable,
Speaker 1: kind people, I would say in the journalism industry, and
Speaker 1: most often they're the ones who've been there the longest.
Speaker 1: So I actually think that compared to some of the reporters,
Speaker 1: I think they're even more knowledgeable. Yeah, if you're a
Speaker 1: young journalist, the best advice is to actually listen to
Speaker 1: what the cameraman is saying and pick their brain because
Speaker 1: they've been out to every story you could ever imagine,
Speaker 1: and they are Like one of the camera guys who
Speaker 1: were good friends with he just knew everyone in Adelaide.
Speaker 1: He knew where every bit of CCTV vision was that
Speaker 1: you could get.
Speaker 2: He was incredible.
Speaker 1: The thing I loved about getting in the car with
Speaker 1: the cameraman was it was kind of like a break
Speaker 1: from the office and the bitching that goes on in there.
Speaker 1: Everyone just vents to the cameraman because it is quite
Speaker 1: a bitchy industry. It's a very competitive industry. And I
Speaker 1: found that not everyone. There's obviously some lovely people in there,
Speaker 1: but some people just don't want to make friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's what I always sound weird, because in all
Speaker 1: news environments you meant to work as a team, and
Speaker 1: then there are some people that, I suppose, like in
Speaker 1: every other industry, really are there for themselves in their career.
Speaker 1: I remember there was one girl that I worked with
Speaker 1: and she told everyone that she doesn't accept work colleagues
Speaker 1: on Facebook and Instagram, and just having said that, it
Speaker 1: made me feel like, what is the point of even
Speaker 1: getting to know You've clearly already got barriers up. That
Speaker 1: being said, I have met some amazing people in the
Speaker 1: industry that just have hearts of gold and would just
Speaker 1: go out of their way to help you as well.
Speaker 1: So I suppose it's like every office there's always someone
Speaker 1: that's really nice, and then there, of course those dickheads
Speaker 1: that you work with. One of the harsh realities of
Speaker 1: working in news is that you do have to work
Speaker 1: Christmas Day, which is just awful because sofen I love
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. I think we ended up I think I
Speaker 1: ended up working two or three Christmas Days in total.
Speaker 1: I think it was two and I worked one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it just that's the thing. I can see why people
Speaker 1: don't like Christmas Day. That might work in that in
Speaker 1: that industry, because it's just like every other day. I
Speaker 1: always think, who the hell watches news on Christmas?
Speaker 2: Anyway? Well, I suppose news doesn't stop, does it?
Speaker 1: Just because it's Christmas? And everyone celebrates Christmas? And the
Speaker 1: cushy story you want if you've been put on a
Speaker 1: Christmas Day shift is the morning story where you go
Speaker 1: to the church, you go to someone's house to film
Speaker 1: them opening their presence.
Speaker 2: I never got that. I got the follow of.
Speaker 1: The person, poor person who drowned on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2: I can't even remember the other story. Oh that's right.
Speaker 1: Oh, and then I got the story about how a
Speaker 1: blackout had ruined everyone's Christmas dinner.
Speaker 2: That would have been in good moods. Yeah, so isn't
Speaker 2: it great to knock onto us? Hey have you had
Speaker 2: a blackout? Oh fantastic?
Speaker 1: Can you film you as buy a candle eating your dinner? Well,
Speaker 1: mine was worse. I had a car explosion on Peachy Road,
Speaker 1: which is in the heart of Elizabeth. So that was
Speaker 1: a bit of fun. I can imagine that, and it
Speaker 1: was a scorching summer's day as well, with a huge
Speaker 1: car one and that in the news they all say scorching,
Speaker 1: like you're sitting at home and it's forty five degrees
Speaker 1: scorching out there.
Speaker 2: It's like, I'm even hotter from everyone saying this.
Speaker 1: It's funny because when they do have those scorching days,
Speaker 1: it's in the newsroom. There's always that one person who's like,
Speaker 1: go and get an egg and crack it on the
Speaker 1: ash felt. Another question we get is how do you
Speaker 1: encourage people to speak to you on camera? And it
Speaker 1: is a very difficult task. So I will throw that
Speaker 1: to Amy, who did get the name of the weasel
Speaker 1: at work. Look, and that was as a compliment. Let
Speaker 1: me just preface that because I don't know, I seem
Speaker 1: to I don't mean to preact, but I seem to
Speaker 1: have this uncanny ability to be able to get people
Speaker 1: to speak on camera and seek out exclusives. And I
Speaker 1: suppose the number one tip if anyone is studying journalism
Speaker 1: is just to make people feel really comfortable. You don't
Speaker 1: want to try and force them into doing something right away.
Speaker 1: Compliments Compliments go a long way as well, That's right,
Speaker 1: I have to tell the story. I don't think I've
Speaker 1: told it on the podcast before, but I remember being
Speaker 1: sent out to a fire in the Northern Suburbs.
Speaker 2: Sorry, the way I said fire just.
Speaker 1: Reminded me of on Front Night Fat the Fires right anyway,
Speaker 1: So there was a fire in the Northern Suburbs and
Speaker 1: all the news crews went out to it with this
Speaker 1: woman just refused to speak. So it's kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll just get on the next story. I came back
Speaker 1: to the office at about three and my boss Terry,
Speaker 1: who is absolutely legend, he'd read on the wires that
Speaker 1: the woman was a mother, and he I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: that's a great story. You want to have the mum
Speaker 1: that's potentially saved her kids from this a human interesting.
Speaker 1: So he's like, hmm, Amy, can you go out and
Speaker 1: make that woman speak? And we need it for the
Speaker 1: bulletin tonight. And this is at three pm. The news
Speaker 1: starts at six. And we had to drive her all
Speaker 1: the way up to Elizabeth, which is probably like a
Speaker 1: forty minute drive. So I was like, oh, okay, Terry,
Speaker 1: she wasn't speaking.
Speaker 2: He's like, well, I need you to get her to speak.
Speaker 1: So we got out there and we knocked on the door,
Speaker 1: and just to preface it, she'd previously told people to
Speaker 1: piss off, understandably, so I knocked on the door and
Speaker 1: she's like, oh, you're back again, and I said, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm really sorry to interrupt. We're just wanting to get
Speaker 1: a few shots inside. Is that possible? So step one?
Speaker 1: You want to get inside, that's it. Right. Once you're inside,
Speaker 1: you can orchestrate so you can start talking. She's like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be on camera and I said,
Speaker 1: I totally understand that. Do you mind if we just
Speaker 1: get vision of where the fire broke out? Okay, no worries.
Speaker 1: So this gave me time to talk to the woman
Speaker 1: and obviously be human with her. And I said to her, so,
Speaker 1: what is it that you're worried about? And she said, oh,
Speaker 1: it's my teeth. I said, what's the issue with your teeth?
Speaker 2: And she said, well, I've got none and I said, oh,
Speaker 2: I hadn't even noticed.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. We've got our cameraman Matt here. He'll be
Speaker 1: able to light you perfectly that no one will notice
Speaker 1: your teeth at all.
Speaker 2: May I butt in here?
Speaker 1: Our mother is a dental therapist, and teeth is one
Speaker 1: of the first thing we have been taught to notice.
Speaker 1: So you know, you've got to pull out little white
Speaker 1: lives here and there. I feel bad telling this story now,
Speaker 1: but so anyway, I said to Aga, we'll get the
Speaker 1: light up.
Speaker 2: You look fantastic. So are you sure, I said yes, like.
Speaker 1: You know, a girl to go, I wouldn't make you
Speaker 1: look bad. Anyway, she did the interview, great story, got back,
Speaker 1: got a little bit of kudos, and I got all
Speaker 1: that night from my mom after she saw the story
Speaker 1: and she was.
Speaker 2: Like, what the hell was with that woman with no teeth?
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh. One of my most memorable
Speaker 1: stories was about a turtle who disappeared and then found
Speaker 1: its way home. It was obviously a very hard hitting story,
Speaker 1: and I think this was out in the South, and
Speaker 1: we traveled quite a far away to get there. So
Speaker 1: what So this turtle had just gone missing from the
Speaker 1: family home. So this woman emailed in and claimed that
Speaker 1: her pet turtle had disappeared. I think he was Actually
Speaker 1: he wasn't urtle the turtle that yeah, So he had
Speaker 1: disappeared for three months and then miraculously found his way home,
Speaker 1: according to this woman.
Speaker 2: So it was clearly a different fucking turtle.
Speaker 1: It might not a bait anyways, did have any distinguishing features?
Speaker 2: No, we did not.
Speaker 1: Well, we can't let facts get in the way of
Speaker 1: a good story anyway, So we rock up and we
Speaker 1: asked the woman if we could get some vision of
Speaker 1: the turtle. And the turtle was swimming in his little
Speaker 1: pond outside and the camera was pretty you know, adamant
Speaker 1: that he needed these shots. So the woman tried to
Speaker 1: call the turtle out, thinking that that would work. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've got a deadline here, so in sheer desperation, I
Speaker 1: put my hands into the absolutely filthy pen sorry filthy pond,
Speaker 1: and yanked the turtle out because I also needed him
Speaker 1: for my piece to camera.
Speaker 2: And I actually got to find that piece to cameras.
Speaker 2: Bloody hilarious.
Speaker 1: The turtles just like walking around while I'm speaking right
Speaker 1: in front of me, So it was worth it.
Speaker 2: In the end. We had a lot of puns in
Speaker 2: that story.
Speaker 1: It sounds like a good story, nice little closer piece
Speaker 1: talking about piece to cameras. I remember when I was
Speaker 1: doing a bit of training, when I was doing my cadet. Shit,
Speaker 1: we had this woman come in to talk to us
Speaker 1: about how to get the confidence and record the perfect
Speaker 1: piece to camera. And it's so funny because I've got
Speaker 1: such a wicked sense of humors, I really had to
Speaker 1: stop myself from laughing because so basically what she'd do
Speaker 1: is she get you to read out one of your
Speaker 1: you sent piece of cameras and then kind of critique you.
Speaker 1: And she said to me, Hey, okay, so why don't
Speaker 1: you add a little bit of a smile when you
Speaker 1: say that line? And this story was about someone who'd
Speaker 1: been murdered, and I was like, oh, so you want
Speaker 1: me to smile, we're talking about someone being murdered.
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of AD's a bit like if you just
Speaker 2: have a little bit of a smile and a smirk.
Speaker 1: And I remember the other girls and I were just
Speaker 1: laughing after this because we couldn't believe it. And then
Speaker 1: there was other training involved voice coaches, and I think
Speaker 1: voice coaches are the most strange individuals but also the loveliest.
Speaker 1: And I've had a few voice coaches who've been amazing,
Speaker 1: But some of the warm ups they get to you
Speaker 1: to do you just feel like the biggest idiot. So
Speaker 1: one of them is you stick your tongue out and
Speaker 1: you're meant to start saying words because that's meant to
Speaker 1: sort of, I don't know, loosen up your mouth and
Speaker 1: oh I remember, yeah, I asked the woman if I
Speaker 1: could film her doing the rehearsal things just to show
Speaker 1: caves because it was so funny. Yeah. I had to
Speaker 1: go to a voice coach when I went to seven
Speaker 1: because they told me my voice was too channel ten
Speaker 1: whatever that means, but I remember it. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a very awkward experience because you are just being judged
Speaker 1: like it's just it's kind of yeah. Yeah. I remember
Speaker 1: having some particular voice training, and this was after the
Speaker 1: my cadet training, and I remember with these other girls
Speaker 1: you could kind of roll your eyes at them and
Speaker 1: have a bit of a snigger about how uncomfortable you were.
Speaker 1: But I was with a group that was taking it
Speaker 1: so super seriously. And I remember one of the tasks
Speaker 1: they got us to do is we had to turn
Speaker 1: to the person sitting next to us and whisper in
Speaker 1: their ears something.
Speaker 2: And I just felt so uncomfortable. And I remember the.
Speaker 1: Lady whispered in my age like ohitch or something.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh my god. I tried to give.
Speaker 1: Someone else the eyes, but no other eyes were coming
Speaker 1: back to me.
Speaker 2: I was like, what the hell?
Speaker 1: That is a question you do get asked a lot though,
Speaker 1: how did you develop your voice?
Speaker 2: And I think some people just have it or you
Speaker 2: don't have it.
Speaker 1: Then again, I have heard people and they do like
Speaker 1: amazing work with what they've got, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like they've actually actually been able to really change up
Speaker 1: their voice. But yeah, I think when you're first starting out,
Speaker 1: you can obviously get ahead if you do have quite
Speaker 1: a nice voice. Actually, one of the other funny things
Speaker 1: a voice coach did was she showed us the insides
Speaker 1: of a throat singing I was like, nah, it was
Speaker 1: my voice coach said that you can actually train someone
Speaker 1: who has the most awful singing voice to have a
Speaker 1: beautiful singing voice. I think she was trying to get
Speaker 1: me to come in for lessons. It's like, yeah, honey,
Speaker 1: I have no interest in being We realized it would
Speaker 1: take about.
Speaker 2: One hundred letters to get that going.
Speaker 1: I suppose one of the most interesting things I've found
Speaker 1: so about stepping out of the media, and I don't
Speaker 1: know if you agree, but is the realization that nobody
Speaker 1: actually cares who you are, Like, I never actually thought
Speaker 1: that anyone cared who I was or anything like that,
Speaker 1: but I.
Speaker 2: Know a lot of people do.
Speaker 1: And it's quite amusing because the only people that actually
Speaker 1: recognize you are old people who watch the news, Like
Speaker 1: nobody else knows who you are.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, have you found that?
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think some people do get into TV
Speaker 1: news thinking that they'll get some form of notoriety or
Speaker 1: fame or whatever, but really you are a nobody. I
Speaker 1: mean every state there are news readers, news reporters, So
Speaker 1: I mean I would say to people, get into journalism
Speaker 1: because you love telling a story, not because you want
Speaker 1: to get noticed and be famous. That what's the crazy thing, though,
Speaker 1: because I know for you and I it was never
Speaker 1: about getting in there to have our face on television.
Speaker 1: If anything, I felt uncomfortable about doing piece to cameras
Speaker 1: and that side of things. I just really love telling
Speaker 1: people's stories. And I know that might sound wanky, but
Speaker 1: it's true. So but there were a lot of people
Speaker 1: who were driven by the fact that their face was
Speaker 1: on TV. And I still have a little bit of
Speaker 1: a giggle when I see some of the reporters around
Speaker 1: the state whose whole instagrams are dedicated to their journalism career,
Speaker 1: and I just find it all a bit cringe. Although
Speaker 1: we the people that put on their journalist's voice when
Speaker 1: they're just speaking in a normal converse station.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like, oh, take your hand off.
Speaker 1: I would like that thinking. It is funny though, when
Speaker 1: you are working in the newsroom all day and the
Speaker 1: newsreaders rock up. So yeah, here's a little bit of
Speaker 1: an insight into what really goes on.
Speaker 2: So not all of them.
Speaker 1: Some do come in earlier, but a few of the
Speaker 1: old veterans, they will probably roll in about four o'clock
Speaker 1: in their big fuck off cars. They oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: it'll be like a competition of who can look like
Speaker 1: they've cared less, like to put no makeup on or
Speaker 1: the hair's crazy. Honestly, that was my biggest fear working
Speaker 1: in news, because if you're the reporter who does the updates,
Speaker 1: you have to come in with no makeup on because
Speaker 1: the makeup artist wants to do your hair and makeup.
Speaker 1: And obviously some of the women looked amazing and you
Speaker 1: couldn't tell really that they had no makeup on. But
Speaker 1: as so I've said, some of them would be like,
Speaker 1: fuck it, I'm not. I'm coming in with wet hair,
Speaker 1: I'm covering in my daggiest clothes, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: be done.
Speaker 2: Up to the macs.
Speaker 1: I can kind of see why people feel that way,
Speaker 1: because it is a lot of upkeep being a TV reporter.
Speaker 1: And now when we're in PR there's nothing more than
Speaker 1: I love them just chucking my hair in a ponytawel
Speaker 1: and putting on comfy stuff while we work at the office.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure.
Speaker 1: I think the cruisiest job, though, in a newsroom has
Speaker 1: to be the sports reporter because they come in at
Speaker 1: the late sorry, the sports presenter because they come in
Speaker 1: at the latest time. They can wear shorts. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Another sort of you know, confession of a TV reporter.
Speaker 1: When you were talking about the wardrobe before, they have
Speaker 1: sensational wardrobe sales at newsrooms. So as a reporter, you
Speaker 1: get bought clothes. They're not actually yours, they're the network's clothes.
Speaker 1: So and each person has their own cupboard with all
Speaker 1: their clothes in it, and they get washed for you.
Speaker 1: So you just drop them in a bin and they
Speaker 1: washed and will dry clean them and then they'll appear.
Speaker 1: But you really had no excuse to be digitaled when
Speaker 1: you were yes anyway, And so you know, obviously, after
Speaker 1: a few years the clothes get old and outdated and
Speaker 1: they want to replace them.
Speaker 2: So they do this.
Speaker 1: Amazing sale where you can come in and buy, like
Speaker 1: a said suit, a Hugo Boss suit that's only been
Speaker 1: worn on air for fifty bucks. So remember, we got
Speaker 1: so excited we bought our dad a suit and he
Speaker 1: happens to be the identical dimensions of one of the
Speaker 1: news readers. And I felt so bad for him because
Speaker 1: he wore this particular suit to a wedding and a
Speaker 1: mom kept mentioning whose suit it was to all of
Speaker 1: their friends, and he was so embarrassed.
Speaker 2: I think that's all we have time for now.
Speaker 1: We are going to do a second episode on this
Speaker 1: topic as well. Now, if you do have a question,
Speaker 1: you can either send them to our Facebook or Instagram account.
Speaker 1: They're under the same name Outspoken Underscore, the Underscore podcast.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: I know I personally have had a lot of fun
Speaker 1: talking through some of these memories. Some of these things
Speaker 1: I'd even forgotten They've only just come up now, So
Speaker 1: we do appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Listening.
Speaker 1: If you did like the podcast, we'd love if you
Speaker 1: can leave us a five star review because it really
Speaker 1: does help us out. And again, if you could share
Speaker 1: where you're listening from and tag us in your Insta story,
Speaker 1: that would be amazing. We absolutely love seeing six