31. TV journo life in a pandemic

My gorgeous friends and reporters Marlina and Brendan share what it's like covering the biggest story of our lifetime, how social distancing has put unexpected demands on the voice and their GOLDEN advice for anyone wanting to be a journalist.

Transcript

Sally: The Coronavirus pandemic is likely to be the biggest story of our lifetime. Imagine what it's like reporting on it? You're about to find out.

I'm Sally Prosser, you're listening to That Voice Podcast, no matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

We're mixing things up today for episode 31 of That Voice Podcast. I have not one but two guests with me. They're great friends of mine and they're also both TV news journalists. Wow, what a time to be a journo, right? Remember if you're an aspiring journalist, head over to my website, sallyprosser.com.au and get my Miked Up digital course. It's specifically for you. There's a student discount and it even includes a free one on one session with me, which is actually worth more than the entire cost of the digital course.

Okay. Back to this podcast. It is my absolute pleasure to welcome Marlina Whop from Seven News, Brisbane and Brendan Smith from Sky News. And we're going to get straight into it with my usual first question, kind of laughable for this pair. We'll start with you Marls. Could you do your job if you lost your voice?

Marlina: Oh it would be very hard. Maybe I could write some scripts for other people. No, I'd find it very challenging.

Sally: Brendo?

Brendan: Definitely not. I rely on my voice for every day work needs. It's, it's our signature, it's our brand. It's our identity being TV news reporters. Absolutely not.

Sally: You guys have covered some pretty big stories in your time and now covering Coronavirus. I was talking to Marlina earlier and we were saying this is the biggest story of our lifetime. Don't you reckon? Would you feel that way Brendan?

Brendan: It's massive. We have to research it, we have to report on it. And then you know, once the lights have turned off, the cameras have turned off. We ourselves can't turnoff because you're absolutely bombarded with social media, with emails and then further research leading into the next day. So it is the biggest story I've covered in my almost nine years as a reporter.

Marlina: And I think to give you an indication of how big it is, is you think about what's happening globally. So in Europe and in the US any other day, those types of stories would be leading our news bulletins, but they aren't because of what's happening here at home. So, that's how big it is.

Sally: And how has it changed the way that you work?

Brendan: Well, I think for me personally, so we're like a lot of other networks we're based from home and then we'll be going out on locations but purely based on the fact that this is constantly changing. Our locations are getting smaller. So the main areas I've been reporting from would either be parliament or from outside the airport. So we're really limiting the number of guests that come into contact with, say, our presenters or our liaisons. And we're encouraging a lot of people to, log on like what we're doing now. So do Skype, Zoom interviews and meetings and it's still allowing people to be connected and you know, give their information and give their opinions on things. But it's definitely changing and embracing the, you know, ever growing technology.

Sally: And the press conference certainly looks different doesn't it?

Marlina: Yes. At parliament we've had to split up a lot and Brendan's been there a lot too at parliament. So say for instance we're on the Speaker's Green, we're all adhering to the social distancing rules. But what's happened is sometimes you can't hear the questions that another journalist is asking because they're further away than normally. And also you're having to project more just to get your question heard. Do you find that Brendan?

Brendan: 100% and I think as well obviously we're now in a super pool arrangement, but you know if I'm VJ'ing yes extremely difficult because I'm back there with all the other camos while still maintaining, social distancing and yeh you just need to bellow out,

Sally: Brendan I'm sure all of your background in theatre training is helping bring out that that voice.

Brendan: Oh, big time. I just think any time it's not, the Speaker's Green, it's not you know, it's not the front of parliament house, it's you're on this day. Just look at it like that day or audience and it's just boom, get it done. You've got a job to do, get your question out. And that's, you know, you could almost look at that as that's your line. That's your one line in the new script for the day.

Sally: Oh my gosh, Brendan. I love that comparison. And I might just quickly explain for people a Superpool is when one camera is gathering all the footage for a group of newsrooms and a VJ is a video journalist. So doing everything a journo does as well as operating the camera.

Marlina: And Sal we thought about, they've started doing this down in Canberra, the Federal Parliament, they've been miking the questions now. So having a microphone on the journalists and I noticed recently they're also filming the journalist asking the questions, so I think that's important too, when a lot of these press conferences are being taken live on television and social media. It is important for people to hear the questions at home. Particularly if you're just asking one of those yes or no questions, you know, Premier, what about this? Can I do this? And she says, no. Well if people can't hear the question. That's important. So we have thought about how we can do that more so in Brisbane.

Sally: Yeah. I would say more people are watching news now than ever. And I jumped onto a Facebook live the other day and it was when it just started and there was about 20,000 people or something that were logged onto this live. It's interesting, isn't it? Having this so many people watching the news, how are you coping? And this would be generally as well, but especially at the moment with all eyes on the news. There's also a lot of extra criticism I feel.

Brendan:  I think there's just back on social media, there's so much misinformation out there. And I think we've all noticed that particularly when coronavirus first came to a head, you know, you'd have all of these diagrams that would look fairly convincing to I guess someone who wasn't too computer savvy. But it would have all of this pseudoscience advice as to how to, you know, kill the virus or how to prevent yourself from getting the virus. And it was just, it was fake news. Like I know that term gets thrown around a lot, but it was fake information and it's frustrating because it was shared so many times. I think the best example would be there was a diagram of a throat and a mouth and a head like just a computer generated image and it would say, you know, you can cure coronavirus by simply gargling salty water and all of these people are sharing it saying, 'Oh, that's what you need to do.' It's like if we needed to just use warm salty water, we would not be spending hundreds of millions of dollars across the globe searching desperately for a vaccine. It's just, I know that salty water can help for other things, but for a deadly global virus, not the case. And that's really frustrating. I need to find, and I'm still struggling to find that, to find a happy medium between being Brendan the person and being Brendan the reporter because I think as most of us would experience, it's very hard to switch off.

Sally: Yeah. And on that, how are you guys feeling about your own health?

Marlina: I've been having vitamin drinks every morning. Oh look, we've split up our newsroom into two and try to limit our movement. So I've been based at parliament a lot and I personally have been trying, and this is generally being supported through the newsroom, which is good. Trying to stick with the same camera crews, the same cameraman. And I think that's important because you don't want to be mixing too much in the team. And yeah, just the way we engage with people we interview as well, you know, whether it's having a microphone with a longer stick so you're not getting too close to people and, but you do have to be conscious of how many people you interact with because normally, I mean I could be sitting in a gutter doing my, makeup, let's face it, I could be anywhere!

Brendan: I think as well. I mean, I've always been a bit of a germaphobe, I guess I use that term loosely, but I, you know, I always would use hand sanitiser, I always you know, disinfect things. But I think we're all definitely at a heightened state of cleanliness and I'm very conscious of you know where I set up. Like for instance, when I'm on the, the morning chase shift, I start at 5:00 AM and I'm just crossing either every hour or every 15 minutes depending on which show I'm crossing for and I'll make it my mission to position myself between the news car and between a wall or a lamppost or something. Just so, I mean, for security reasons, I would do it prior to coronavirus. Just so you know, you don't get the general members of the public feeling like they'd like to say hi to mum or dad if they're watching at home, which can be frustrating sometimes, but it's just people sneezing, it's keeping coughing, it's people coming near you.

So I'm very, it's definitely the forefront of my mind and as Whoppy was saying. Bugger a coffee, let's get an orange juice. Let's get some Vitamin C into the system because it is important to stay healthy because it is our job. And right now being a journalist is, you know, one of the most important jobs because people need information and they need correct information, timely information.

Sally: Well said. So now I would love to talk about the voice a little bit. It is That Voice Podcast. When it comes to voice. I'd love to hear, have you had any broadcast voice training and what sort of steps do you take to have your voice ready for broadcast?

Brendan: So I started off in television at Network 10 in Brisbane when I was 20. And looking back to the very first package that went to air, I mean, goodness, I sounded like a child and I guess I was essentially a child and you know, our voice develops over time, but I at that point didn't have any form of voice training.

I did do some voice training with Georgie Lewis, which was very, very helpful and she really went through tone and inflection and taking the right pauses at the right times and that altering your voice for different stories because obviously if you're doing, you know a serious political package, you're not going to have the same voice. If you're doing a story about you know, training guide dogs you need to really immerse yourself in the story, the one take home (I mean there are plenty of take-homes from my time at 10) but smiling when you're talking and people and viewers can hear that smile and I think that's such a cool thing.

Marlina: I had training when I was working at the ABC when I was starting off. So before that though, they let me on air, on community radio in Townsville six hours every Friday on a request show. That's when I started getting formal training. So I would have been in my early twenties when I was starting off with the ABC and advice I would give Sal is I used to always put so much pressure on myself, which sort of added to the problem sometimes and feel like, why am I not sounding like so-and-so or, and I remember one of my mentors there telling me one day that your voice will change as you get older, as you get into, you know, twenties your late 20s your thirties your vocal cords will naturally change and you can't, there's certain things you can't rush and you can only be yourself. And I've always remembered that because I think you do try to put pressure on yourself to sound like someone you're not. And let's be honest, sometimes your voice comes with experience because you're learning how to tell stories and you've experienced more in your own life to be able to reflect that in your own voice and delivery.

Sally: Yeh and as your writing improves and changes. I think that also affects the voice.

Marlina: Yeah. And, like Brendan said earlier, your, you're developing, I guess your brand, your signature, what your sound is.

Brendan: As a, you know, a junior journo. As much as it can be frustrating at the beginning, you need to know that your scripts will likely be changed quite a lot by producer because there's nothing quite like the stress and anxiety of trying to meet a deadline, getting a script back that looks completely different to what you had and then you're needing to voice it and still speak with authority, speak with clarity, but you're also conscious of the fact that it's going to air in half an hour, 45 minutes an hour. And I remember distinctly when I was doing the story at Ten when I was a junior burger and I was so stressed out because it was the lead package. It was the state pol's package, it was my second package ever and I was so stressed out, I, I was late to get back to the office, I was umming and ahing over the script and my voice that went to air was shocking.

It was shocking and Georgie in a very kind way said 'what happened?' And then I spoke to Cathie Schnitzerling who was the news director, news director at the time, but lovely woman who started my career. She said, 'don't rest on your laurels. Just go home. Do another package tomorrow and you'll move on.' But that definitely stuck with me. Never let the stress get to you because as I've seen in some of your other podcasts, Sal, it's when your voice goes to the back of your throat and you're just trying to claw back your voice and you, you can't because you're on your 10th take, your fifth take, whatever take it is, and you just can't get there. And eventually you just need to say, just get it in fill the black, just smash it out.

Sally: I always say with journos, having been one and the students I work with, it's never going to be the very best you could have ever done. It's always going to be the very best that you could do by deadline, you know? So you really can't put too much pressure on yourself.

Marlina: And also there is no guarantee as you both know that you're going to be in a studio to voice it. You could be sitting in a car on the side of the highway, or how many times have we done voiceovers in a hotel room? I remember doing a couple up in Cairns and it was so hot and often in a hotel room, the cameraman will make you put a towel over your head or a blanket. So you know, that's obviously really comfortable. You're standing in the corner of your room. If anyone walked in and you're trying to voice something with a towel over your head and you're hot. Those are the sorts of things as well I think can add to it. There's no guarantee you're going to have that nice, beautiful studio booth to put the voice down.

Brendan: Oh goodness not. One of my early career highlights when I first started at Sky was them sending me to Dubai for a week and I thought, Oh, amazing. I love it and it still stays with me. And yet all of your friends who don't work in TV think, Oh, you know you're that. They have this almost like like the Sex and the City scene when they're all in the desert. They're all dripping in jewels and having champagne and living this lie. And it was a beautiful experience. But there I was in the hotel room, covered in the doona voicing my story.

Sally: Yeah. And we're seeing with lots of journos working from home, they're sharing on social, their set ups where it is, you know, with the blankets in the bedroom. And I think you're right. People don't realize that a lot of stories that go to air in regular time are also voiced under those circumstances. You know, I work with a lot of young journalists who are starting out and I've recently gone a little bit viral on TikTok and on TikTok. I have a lot of young kids who are at school saying, Oh, I really want to be a news reporter when I grow up, which is great. What would be your advice to them?

Brendan: My advice would be to really work on your craft prior to going into uni, write short stories, look at other reporters. You know, you look up to, you know, if you're looking at TV, you're looking at radio, you're looking at print, look at the style you like, look at the presenting style you like or the writing style you like. I think that's really important. Know what you want early on, but be open to the fact that in the next 10 years, the next 20 years, the industry is going to dramatically change. You know, there won't be the case of having a cammo, a reporter, a sound up writer, not just will not happen. And I think in terms of my role, I've been at Sky for two and a half years now as a video journalist and it's the best decision I've made because I'm preparing myself for the inevitable change that is going to come.

And I love the fact that when I worked down at Canberra for a small stint to fill in to someone, you know, if there weren't any cameraman around, it's like, Oh, I'll just go on film it for you. It's fine, you're useful and your, your skills can be utilized across so many avenues. I think that's a really, really good thing. And then probably my final thing is, aside from finding your, you know, your style or your, your way of doing things, or someone you'd like to emulate. Accept the fact that you're going to work for free at some point. Probably the most frustrating thing that I've seen, you'll get uni students in who through no fault of their own think it's the easiest industry to be in. It's this fantastic and glamorous industry, which it can be, but it's, it's hard work and you need to accept the fact that you might be working 8:00 AM till 6:00 PM you could be working until midnight.

You could be getting called up at two o'clock in the morning to go to a, a massive cyclone or a fire or a crime. And you need to accept the fact that you mightn't get to your, you know, your partner's birthday, you mightn't get to your dad's 60th birthday. It just happens. And as much as I hate to say it, you can easily be replaced if you don't want to put in the hard work. You know, journalism is not the industry for you. The industry can chew you up and spit you out like that. So it just happens. But it's a very rewarding industry and it's fun and you meet amazing people and the fact that you have the privilege and it is a privilege to bring people information, people rely on you for factual information and storytelling. I think that's a fantastic thing.

Sally: Yeah. Fantastic. And Marlina, what about you?

Marlina: I would say, you know, from someone, I was pretty shy coming out of high school, going through uni, I would call myself quite a shy person, but the gift of journalism has been to meet so many wonderful people and there's a bit of fake it till you make it, I reckon. I think you also need to be open to opportunities and moving to places that maybe you didn't imagine yourself perhaps living in. You know? I know when I was working in Cairns, an opportunity came up to move to Rockhampton and I was initially really against going, moving from beautiful Cairns to Rockhampton. And then I stayed in Rocky for quite a few years because I loved it so much. So I think that's the beauty of the job. It can take you to places that you never thought you'd necessarily live and call home.

And I think, you know, inevitably like any career, you are going to make mistakes. You have to be honest about them and you have to learn how to confront mistakes and move on from them as well. Like you said before, you know, not every voiceover is going to be your optimum performance, but you've got to realize that you know, the next day you have an opportunity to do it all again. So I think you have to be aware of that and also just learn from your peers, observe how they operate on the road, I try to, if I'm filing a story for that day, I try to look at every other network to see what they've done with the story, how they presented it. Also just have a bit of fun. I mean, news can be serious and sad, but it's also gotta be entertaining and you've got to have a sense of humor because that happens in life all the time, right?

Sally: Yeah. Especially at the moment. Hey?!

Brendan: Yeah, and I think that's probably another thing as well. Have fun and take those moments and remember those moments, but accept the fact that you're going to be confronted with things that most people won't. You know, you look at ambos and police officers and firies we're generally at the same scenes and sometimes you have the unfortunate moment where you're potentially at a fatal car crash before the authorities get there. You need to accept that you're going to be faced with that. And it's, for some people it can be quite challenging and you always need to check in, talk to your cameraman or cameraperson. Talk to your other colleagues, talk to your friends and family because it can get to you. Very early on in my career, as Marlina was saying about moving. I moved down to Coffs Harbour to work for NBN.

One of the first stories I covered was a fatal shark attack of someone who was only a few years younger than me, and that really hit me hard. I remember that night I drove back to my parents' place in Brisbane and I just cried. It just, it was the most horrible experience because you'll, you're still human at the end of the day, but, in those circumstances, you know, you've got networks wanting vision, they're wanting it first. You've got, you know, maybe a much more senior producer in the metro centers screaming down the phone at you to get as much content as you can and you're trying to, again, there's that grappling between journo Brendan, and then human Brendan, because as we all know in situations like that, you know, emotions are so heightened. You've got family members, you've got friends and then here you are with a camera crew rocking up, needing to get the information but still needing to be respectful and still have a shred of humanity left in you.

But definitely accept that that's going to happen and accept that if you know that affects you, it's probably not the right job for you. You know, a classic example that day, I was at a music festival covering the music festival. It was a colour story, you know, I was voxying people about their favorite bands and talking about how much you know it'll bring to the local economy and then you've got boom, get to Sandy beach, there's a shark attack. In the last couple of years there's been a better push to really check in with people. But that is so important because you'll either end up completely broken as a person or you just won't be able to feel.

Marlina: And I think Sal if I can add, I think Brendan touched on this before with COVID-19 the importance of news and providing the right information. I think it is. You know, we've seen a lot of the stories about panic and fear and people going nuts at the supermarket. Yeah, t he pictures with people fighting over toilet paper and all of that. They're going to get played and over and over again on the TV, but when we're doing stories as well, I think we have a responsibility to be delivering messages clearly and calmly and measured and I think that's like any kind of emergency situation, whether it's cyclones or floods or things like that. I think that's really important and I think you know, it's important people don't hear the panic in our voices as well. Even if we are a bit afraid, we can show emotion, but I think you've got to strike that balance there as well and be aware of that.

Sally: What a fantastic place to end our chat and it does speak to the heart of how important voice is in your role, Honestly, so great to see you guys and so great to have a chat. Thank you so much.

Brendan & Marlina: Thanks Sal. Talk soon.

Sally: Now next week, because we're in pretty stressful times, I thought I'd share some ideas for how you can strike the balance between putting emotion into your voice but not letting that emotion control you. I'll see you then.

Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast. A full transcript is at www.thatvoicepodcast.com.