After an extended break, upcast is back with new host Ryan Jon presenting episode 8.
You’ll hear Meghan Lodwick demonstrating a new interviewing technique whilst chatting to future journalism students at La Trobe University’s open day.
We also talk to Upstart’s Ben Waterworth about his recent experiences covering the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:43 — 8.9MB)
Hear New York University’s Jay Rosen’s conversation with Melbourne emerging journalists.
True to form, Rosen addressed the current challenges in media, calling election coverage ‘horse-race journalism’. Perhaps, according to Rosen, it’s more important to focus on what our country needs rather than which nose crosses first.
Jay Rosen was in Australia for the Walkley Media Conference, an initiative of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.
upstart thanks the MEAA for permission to record and publish Jay Rosen’s conversation.
See also a pair of recent articles on upstart that discuss Rosen’s lecture in the context of the Australian election: ‘Suspend the Race and Look at the Track’, by Saul Wakerman, and ‘Citizens’ agenda: what should our pollies be talking about?’ by Jean Kemshal-Bell.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:50:19 — 75.8MB)
A strange thing happened when I took all caffeine off my menu last week; people noticed.
Outside of the comments and kudos I received on my blog, For the Love of Beans!, a tweet also came from student journalist Liam Mannix who scored a two-week job at ABC Radio Adelaide, filling in for their program manager who is on leave.
Overseeing the talent needed to fill Carole Whitelock’s 1pm-4pm afternoon show, Mannix contacted me over Twitter to be interviewed about my week without coffee. I of course, agreed. On Tuesday morning Mannix called offering me a slot and I waited impatiently for my interview with Whitelock later that afternoon.
I got a little heads up before it took place, but not much. I was told they wanted to talk about my reasons for giving up caffeine. I had based the experiment on a study at the University of Bristol in the UK which found that caffeine doesn’t make you alert, it just brings us back to normal.
In preparation, I re-read my blog and the study then waited for the call. Mannix was first on the phone, it was brief; he told me to wait a few minutes and then I would be live on air. My heart was pounding and face flushed; I was nervous, afraid I would choke.
Yet when Whitlock asked me my first question it was like I was having a chat over the phone with a friend. The audio clip is about seven minutes long and appears courtesy of ABC Local Radio in Adelaide, 891AM.
Meghan Lodwick is a Master of Global Communications student at La Trobe University. You can catch up on Meghan’s coffee-free-week or read more of coffee-related writings at her blog, For the Love of Beans!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:36 — 6.0MB)
On the seventh episode of Upcast, Meghan Lodwick is joined by final year journalism student Ally Forward to chat about the success of her recent story, NAPLAN fails the Torchwood test, which was published first on the National Times and then on Upstart. Meghan and Ally discuss the difficulty of getting experience in the media while completing university, as well as Ally’s inspiration for the story and the most worthwhile result of publication.
Upstart co-editor and journalism honours student Kelly Theobald then talks with marine biologist David Collins about his career so far, the importance of studying marine environments and, specifically, sharks. David answers some important questions about sharks and discusses common misconceptions about this endagered animal, and how the media is involved.
You can see all of the upcast episodes on the upcast page by clicking here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:04 — 12.1MB)
On Episode 6 of upcast, we spoke to a couple of people who have been working on some interesting projects.
Marian Blythe is a La Trobe honours student and blogger who is currently working on a thesis about children’s beauty pageants and use it to explore the media’s influence on moral panic. Marian is hoping to turn her thesis in a radio documentary.
Episode six also features a history lesson from La Trobe journalism lecturer Rachel Buchanan whose book, The Parihaka Album, is a contribution to documenting Maori history. With her Maori heritage, Rachel spoke about how the project became more personal throughout her research. A chapter of Rachel’s book has also been posted on the website of The Griffith Review.
You can see all of the upcast episodes on the upcast page by clicking here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:02 — 18.4MB)
In episode five of upcast we spoke to a couple of La Trobe students who are involved in some new and exciting projects.
La Trobe’s Digital Media Officer Matt Smith came in to give us an update on his bucket list including an insight into what AFL looks like to a first time spectator. You can read about Matt’s bucket list at his website.
Perrin Brown dropped in to tell us about his exciting PhD project which looks at Freedom of Information (FoI)Â law and its effects on Australian journalists. If you are a journalist and you have had dealings with FoI, Perrin would love to hear from you. You can take his FoI survey by clicking here and you can email him at pa9brown@students.latrobe.edu.au
Our final guest was former upstart editor and final year journalism student, Tom Cowie. Tom has launched a new website and social media campaign entitled ‘Tom Wants a Job’ in which he, unsurprisingly, tries to find a job. You can visit his fantastic site by clicking here, and you can follow him on twitter at @tomwantsajob or by using the hashtag #tomwantsajob.
Don’t forget that upcast has its very own page on the upstart website, which you can access by clicking here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:27 — 16.0MB)
In the fourth episode of upcast we spoke about media ventures taking place at La Trobe University – some new and some not so new.
We spoke with Michael Strazzeri from La Trobe’s Media Journalism Students Association (MJSA) about the club’s upcoming television program which will air on Channel 31.
We also spoke with Michael Nolan, the Chief Editor of La Trobe’s student newspaper Rabelais. Michael told us some of the paper’s history including the story of the gentleman after which the paper is named.
Don’t forget to head over to the upcast page where you will find more information about the show as well as some added extras that we couldn’t fit into this episode.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:18 — 17.7MB)
Jaime McDougall is an American-born writer who makes a modest living out of blogging in her adopted home-town of Melbourne. She recently spent some time chatting with Matt de Neef about her blogging experiences and offered some advice to those looking to make money out of their blogs.
You can read Jaime’s work at ‘Pump Up Your Book!’, ‘The New Australian’ and ‘Down Under Views’.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:39 — 6.1MB)
On episode three of upcast we continued our journey into the world of blogging and spoke to three student bloggers.
Kiefer Findlow is a film blogger whose work can be found at This Complicates Things.
Meghan Lodwick is a barista of nine years who practices great barista-blogging at For the love of beans!
Ben Waterworth blogs at A Short Sport Thought and is the the upstart/upcast sports guru.
Join us as we continue to explore the world of blogging and don’t forget that you can visit our very own page. You can also listen to upcast on iTunesU
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:44 — 18.1MB)
Kelly Theobald and Matt de Neef
In the second episode of upcast, upstart editors Kelly Theobald and Matt de Neef talk to La Trobe’s digital media maestro Matt Smith about his “bucket list”, and Lawrie Zion previews La Trobe’s upcoming sports journalism symposium, which is being held on 8 April.
upcast is now also on iTunes, and you can hear the first instalment of the program here.
The accompanying tunes were Every Little Piece by Farmertan and Overthrown by Josh Woodward.
Thank you to Matt Smith and Lawrie Zion for a tag-team effort behind the production desk.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:09 — 6.9MB)
upstart is a project of La Trobe's Journalism, Media Studies and Cinema Studies programs. The site showcases the writing of emerging journalists, while providing a platform for new adventures in journalism.