Gone are the days when reporters could write their words, send their stories to their editor, and declare the job done.

At The Sydney Morning Herald, our subscribers demand more. And then there are the seemingly endless streams of social media to feed.

So when the Herald’s trainee group of 2022 was selected, we set about changing the traditional programme that had been in place for decades to make it fit modern readers. We began building journalists of the future. 

We have been retrofitting digital skills to text-based reporters for many years. For the past four years, I have spent an hour most Wednesdays workshopping with all staff about the enhancements they can make to their work through better digital story-telling techniques.

But what if we changed the starting point? What if our new trainee reporters could acquire broad skills from the outset?  

We wanted to be in a position where a TikTok video promoting a story was not an afterthought but part of the pitch. Where data graphics were part of the story, not commissioned at the end and jammed in the newspaper or on Instagram. Where the video clip could be integral to the telling of the story. 

It meant our expectations for trainee reporters would be higher than they had ever been, and we would need to ensure they were getting feedback on all facets of their work, not just their research, interview, reporting, and writing skills. 

So, out went the old rotations on the breaking news desk and production — every round demands these anyway — and in came premium content. 

A new process

Our premium content round saw each trainee spend time writing explainers, shooting and editing videos, and learning podcasting as well as data and graphics.

And while the majority of their work at the end of their year was written, they were also able to file video and audio and complete data-rich graphics to enhance their work, ensuring our subscribers were receiving content worth paying for. 

They delivered. A project called The Sydney we don’t talk about was not only a hit with our subscribers but also drew new subscribers and exposed our brand to an additional 600,000 people on TikTok.

Individually, each trainee was able to show their skills in fields in which they are very suited.

Rising to the challenge

Billie Eder, who has since been appointed to the sports desk, was tasked with live blogging the Commonwealth Games (imagine the Olympics but without the United States, China, and most of Europe). She would need to be across all of the data visualisation tools — in-house as well as platforms such as Flourish — to keep up with Australia’s rather vast gold medal-winning efforts. 

Anthony Segaert, who has been appointed urban affairs reporter, told the tale of an old Sydney harbourside suburb, once housing for its wharf workers, now mostly abandoned in Sydney due to Airbnb rentals. He didn’t just write words. He told it in a video and on TikTok, utilising the Herald’s print archives (which stretch back 192 years) as well as more recent and bespoke video. 

As appointed science reporter, Angus Dalton worked on a stunning project about Sydney’s seals and their return to our healthier harbour foreshores. It involved mapping, scrollytelling and video. 

Millie Muroi, appointed to the business desk, did an exceptional job digesting the Australian government’s budget papers and explaining on the platform most accessed by young people — TikTok — what it meant for them.

Angus Thomson, appointed health reporter, proved a hit with our podcast audience, hosting our daily news broadcast, Please Explain, like a seasoned pro. He’s already thinking about how he can incorporate audio storytelling into his new round. 

The trainees valued being stretched. Dalton said: “I’m grateful that we’re encouraged to deliver journalism and analysis in different styles, from breaking news to podcasts, short-form videos, opinion pieces, explainers, and features for News Review.”

And Thomson: “I’ve been surprised by the newsroom’s receptiveness to new ideas and ways of doing things, and the trust shown in us to follow them through.”

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