The Masterclass

Learning Through Listening: Practical lessons in the art and craft of audio storytelling from some of the best in the world, hosted by Louisa Lim from the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne.

Episodes

  • Ep 14: A Matter of Life and Death; True Crime Podcasts

    48 mins

    Louisa Lim explores the booming phenomenon of podcasts with investigative journalist Richard Baker and the ABC’s Rachael Brown.
    They explore what makes this genre so compelling to audiences, and what does it tell us about ourselves and how far can you push the the story telling.

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an award-winning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for
    Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a
    weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 13: Pod Save Radio- How Podcasting is Transforming the Audio Sphere

    50min 19secs

    Louisa Lim moderated a lively discussion between Natasha Mitchell, host of the ABC’s Science Friction and Robert Smith from Planet Money on NPR. They tackled topics such as their individual approaches to a story, how podcasts are pushing the boundaries of narrative story telling and how much of yourself should you insert into a story?

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreigncorrespondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a bookcalled The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named anEconomist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on
    China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an award-winning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for
    Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co- produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a
    weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 12: Manoush Zomorodi on Engagement and Audience Interaction

    26min 34secs

    The smartphone has changed audience interaction forever, and Manoush Zomorodi’s Note to Self is a trailblazer in audience engagement. She talks through extreme engagement, and how she managed to get listeners not just to call in, but to change their lifestyles.

    @manoushz

    Note to Self’

    Bored and Brilliant series

    Bored and Brilliant; How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self

    Ghosting, Simmering and Icing with Esther Perel

    I Didn’t See Your Text

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreigncorrespondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a bookcalled The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named anEconomist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on
    China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an award-winning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for
    Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co- produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 11: Radiotopia’s Julie Shapiro on Podcasting

    30mins

    You have to love and idea and a topic so much that you want to live it, breath it, eat it and marry it. That’s the advice that Radiotopia’s Julie Shapiro gives for anyone who wants to get into podcasting.

     

    Show notes
    @jatomic
    www.julieshapiro.org/who/
    Radiotopia
    www.radiotopia.fm/
    Ear Hustle
    www.earhustlesq.com/
    Millennial
    www.millennialpodcast.org/
    99% Invisible
    99percentinvisible.org/

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim is an awardwinning journalist and podcaster. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. The podcast she co-hosts, The Little Red Podcast, has just won News and Current Affairs podcast of the year in the Australian Podcast Awards. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an awardwinning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an upcoming podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 10: Lyse Doucet on Journalism in Hostile Environments

    27 minutes

    The job of a journalist is to tell the stories of our time. In this episode, the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet talks through the challenges facing today’s journalists from the conflict frontlines to the increasing hostility to the mainstream media.

    @bbclysedoucet

    The Real Story, What is Fuelling The War in Yemen (BBC World Service)

    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswx1l
    Lyse Doucet Reunites With Refugee Family in Canada (BBC)

    www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-ca…ee-family-in-canada

    Syria in the Wake of US-led Missile Strikes (BBC Newshour)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172w252dqg20mt
    Syria: The World’s War (BBC Two)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b227d8

    Inside Yemen: Three Years of War
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n3ct553w

    Host details: 
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

  • Ep 9: Steve Inskeep on Going Live

    28min 24secs

    Going live is one of the trickiest skills for any audio journalist to master. In this episode, NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep draws on his decades behind the mike to outline some of his top strategies for going live.

    @nprinskeep

    Morning Edition
    www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/

    To Escape Civil War, Many Yemenis Flee to Djibouti
    www.npr.org/2018/03/19/59483929…s-flee-to-dijibouti

    Yemeni Refugees Cross Gulf of Aden to Seek Safety in East Africa
    www.npr.org/2018/03/22/59596739…fety-in-east-africa

    Why Yemen’s War Mostly Remains Out of News Headlines
    www.npr.org/2018/03/19/59483932…t-of-news-headlines

    US Fast Tracks Missile Defence System to East Asia, Drawing China’s Ire
    www.npr.org/sections/parallels/…-drawing-chinas-ire

    Insurgents in Nigeria Release Most of the Girls Abducted Last Month
    www.npr.org/2018/03/21/59579135…abducted-last-month

    Major Breaks in Boston Marathon Bombing Case
    www.npr.org/2013/04/19/17792841…rathon-bombing-case

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an awardwinning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of Starting Somewhere a new podcast from the University of Melbourne.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

    PHOTO: Aspeninstitute-Internal- www.flickr.com/photos/60463478@N08/

  • Ep 8: Using Sound

    Sound and silence are the tools of an audio journalist, and their uses – as emphasis, as illustration, as explication or as a chapter break – are manifold. In this episode, the BBC’s Neal Razzell talks through how to make your pieces sing, and how to go one step further with sound.

     

    Show notes
    Neal Razzell ‘s Twitter – @NealRazzell

    Spain’s Battle for the Bull (Documentary Podcast, BBC World Service)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033zrkw

    Last Call From Aleppo (Crossing Continents, Radio 4, BBC)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08zd778

    Audiograph: The Sound of the Brexit Pound
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p043px57

    Audiograph: The Sound of Climate Change
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p043pryr

    Audiograph: The Sound of Mexican Migration to the US
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04dyfg9

    Audiograph: Falling Infant Mortality Rates
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0418j8v

    Opposing Obama (BBC World Service)
    www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/docum…obama_part_1.shtml

    Podcast series: The Assassination (BBC World Service)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05r6cg…episodes/downloads

    Recorded at the Horwood Studio, University of Melbourne

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an awardwinning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an upcoming podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 7: Writing for radio

    29mins 33sec

    One of the biggest secrets to writing for radio is not writing for radio, but letting your sound and your interviewees do some of the work. In this episode, Natasha Mitchell of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Radio National walks us through how to show, not always tell, for radio.

     

    Show notes
    Natasha Mitchell’s Twitter @natashamitchell
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/nat…-mitchell/2914164

    Eugenics, Power and Privilege; Why America had a Nazi Problem Before Charlottesville (Science Friction)
    www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-08/e…ttesville/8883074

    Calling all Carnivores and Vegetarians; Would You Eat Meat Grown in a Lab? (Science Friction)
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro…-in-a-lab/9185470

    The Secret Life of Children (Earshot)
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro…-children/7936046

    The Secrets Inside Your Cells; Epigenetics, Trauma and Ancestry (Science Friction)
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro…our-cells/9237992

  • Ep 6: The Art of Radio Packages

    30min

    This week, we’re talking news packages with NPR’s Robert Smith, who is a master of filing short news packages on deadline. Robert says structuring packages is not a secret code and you should fantasise about you radio piece before you start making it; who’s the most interesting person you could speak to, what’s the best ending? And never be afraid to ask the dumbest questions or do something stupid in the name of radio.

    Robert Smith’s Twitter – @radiosmith

    Harlem Says Its Farewell to James Brown
    www.npr.org/templates/story/sto…php?storyId=6692842

    Episode 788: Robert And Kenny Go To The Fair
    www.npr.org/sections/money/2017…enny-go-to-the-fair

    Recorded at the Horwood Studio, University of Melbourne
    arts.unimelb.edu.au/soll/resources/horwood

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an award-winning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an upcoming podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 5: Recording in the field

    29 mins

    Use your mic like a camera, zooming in and out to getting aural close-ups and wide shots to build texture to your pieces. In this episode, the BBC’s Africa producer Becky Lipscombe talks through how to report in the field including what to take out with you and how to get the sound you need.

    Becky Lipscombe’s Soundcloud page
    @beckylip
    Robert Mugabe Resigns (BBC Newshour)
    www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172vr1h1kz89l2
    Zimbabwe; The People Have Spoken
    Beckylip – Zimbabwe-the-people-have-spoken
    Sierra Leone; The Ebola Orphans
    Beckylip – Sierra-leone-the-ebola-orphans

    Recorded at the Horwood Studio, University of Melbourne
    arts.unimelb.edu.au/soll/resources/horwood

    Host details: 
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an awardwinning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an upcoming podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

  • Ep 4: Finding your radio voice

    26min 22sec
    Download podcast:
    180214-Elspeth-Morrison_AIR

    In audio journalism, you need to sound like yourself plus 10%. But what does that even mean? In this episode, voice coach Elspeth Morrison breaks down how to find your radio voice and use it appropriately.

    Elspeth Morrison a voice coach who has worked with journalists for almost twenty years. She has trained many BBC journalists, as well as training actors in her other job as an accent coach.
    @elspeth27

    A Guide to Northern English Accents (BBC)

    https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fprogrammes%2Farticles%2F1RpWFqs6CR94G8DqKNVKGrQ%2Fa-guide-to-northern-english-accents

    Recorded at the Horwood Studio, University of Melbourne
    arts.unimelb.edu.au/soll/resources/horwood

    Host details:
    Louisa Lim has been a journalist for more than two decades. She was a foreign correspondent in China for a decade for BBC and NPR. She subsequently wrote a book called The People’s Republic of Amnesia; Tiananmen Revisited, which was named an Economist Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. She co-hosts a podcast on China called The Little Red Podcast with Graeme Smith from the Australian National University. She teaches Audio and Video Journalism at the University of Melbourne.
    @limlouisa

    Production Team
    Buffy Gorrilla is an awardwinning audio journalist and a recent graduate of the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism programme. Buffy has been a producer at the ABC for Radio National and ABC Radio Melbourne and is currently working with RN’s Blueprint for Living. She is also host and producer of an upcoming podcast for the University of Melbourne called Starting Somewhere.

    Ruby Schwartz is a Research Assistant to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. She provides research support for books, essays, op-eds and speeches, and co-produces the Vice-Chancellor’s public policy podcast, The Policy Shop. Ruby has co-hosted a weekly intersectional feminist news and current affairs show on 3CR, produces audio stories for FBI Radio’s All The Best and written articles for the Sydney Morning Herald. She was an editorial assistant at the Saturday Paper and wrote a thesis on gendered cyber harassment.

  • Ep 3: The art of the interview

    34 min 13 secs
    Download podcast:
    180127-Hamish-Macdonald_AIR

    Interviewing is like playing chess; you need to predict two moves ahead and have your figurative pieces in play ready to meet your interviewee there. In this episode, the award-winning journalist Hamish Macdonald talks through the art of the interview, and the importance of holding people in power to account.

    Hamish Macdonald is an award-winning Australian broadcaster and foreign correspondent. He sometimes presents ABC Radio National’s Breakfast show, as well as hosts Channel Ten’s The Project. He has also worked at Al Jazeera, ABC America and the UK’s Channel Four. He was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University in 2016, and won the RTS Young Journalist of the Year in 2008.
    @hamishnews

    Michael Wolff dismisses ‘silly’ criticisms of Fire and Fury in Heated Interview (ABC)
    www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-12/m…ury-silly/9319852
    Pray for us; Aleppo is really ‘hell… A firsthand account of life in Syria (ABC)
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro…almouslem/7837880
    Christopher Pyne calls for Sam Dastyari to be Sacked (ABC)
    www.abc.net.au/radionational/pro…ari-to-be/7813634
    Sam Dastyari Donations Scandal; Christopher Pyne Backtracks from Breach Claim (SMH)
    www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/…60905-gr8p4y.html
    The Truth is (Channel 10)
    tenplay.com.au/channel-ten/the-truth-is/2013/6/3

    Recorded at the Horwood Studio, University of Melbourne
    arts.unimelb.edu.au/soll/resources/horwood