I’m the ABC’s national AI technology reporter. My job is to help inform the Australians about one of the most exciting, fast-moving and consequential stories of our time.
A lot of people don’t know much about how journalism is done. I don’t blame them! A lot of it is done behind the scenes or is not well explained.
So, I’ve written a short guide about how I do my reporting. I want you to know exactly what to expect from me, whether you’re reading one of my articles for the first time or (hopefully) sending me a tip via email or Signal.
What’s your job?
I’m a technology journalist covering how AI is influencing the lives of Australians, and how Australians are influencing AI.
There’s a lot of info in the ABC’s charter and editorial policies about this but TL;DR: my job is to serve a broad national audience by giving them high-quality, balanced and nuanced info about the world around them.
I don’t tell people what to think. I find out things and I share what I find with you to let you make up your own mind.
How do you do journalism?
I’m like a filter. I spend all day slurping up all the information I can, constantly thinking about what is important for my audience to know about, and searching for engaging and substantive ways to bring it to them.
Practically, this just means reading stuff, going to things and speaking to people like you.
When I said you, I meant it. I love hearing from all kinds of people. Everyone has an experience, a feeling, a take on technology. I want to hear it.
How do I speak to you?
It’s so easy. Send me a message on Signal or an email at protonmail. Both are simple, pretty secure and can be completely anonymous.
What can I talk to you about?
Pretty much anything.
You do not need to have a complete story or know exactly why something matters before contacting me. Many stories begin with a message saying: “I heard this happened,” or, “I’m not sure whether this is important, but I thought you should know.”
I read every tip, and I take it seriously that people would take the time to tell me things.
I’m worried about sharing something with you, can you be discrete?
The first thing you need to know is that the most important thing is your well-being. Even for enormously consequential stories, there are always many ways to tell them, typically with options to keep you safe from repercussions.
I’ve worked with anonymous sources my whole career and I’ve never outed a source or had them outed.
What does off the record, on background, on the record mean?
This is a great example of journalist mumbojumbo that you hear them say all the time, but is never really explained. What’s even crazier is that these terms mean different things to different journalists.
These terms refer to the way that I, a journalist, can attribute information you give me. Here’s what they mean to me, and how I’ll use them with you.
On the record means your information can be published and attributed to you by name. For example, this would be like a normal quote in an article: “You can quote me on that,” said Cam Wilson.
On background means information that I can use but not attributed to you. For example, this might be: one journalist said that you could quote him on them.
Off the record means information that I can’t attribute to anyone or even publish. So if we agreed to speak off the record and then I told you “you can quote me on that”, you could, in fact, not quote me on that. Nor could you say that a journalist told you that you could quote him.
How do you decide what is on or off the record?
Typically, anything you say to a journalist is on-the-record unless you’ve agreed otherwise.
That’s because going off-the-record is a privilege granted to serve the audience by getting information that they wouldn’t otherwise get if the quote had to be attributed. Sometimes it would better serve the audience to stay on the record and let the interviewee sweat.
It does, however, get a little bit flexible based on context.
My rule of thumb is: the strictness with which I enforce this rule is proportionate to your experience with the media.
For example, if you come to me with a tip as a general member of the public but you don’t want it published, there’s about a zero chance that I would proceed without your permission.
But if you’re a lobbyist who sends me a dirt sheet out of the blue without ever speaking to me and then subsequently tells me afterwards that it was “on background” and “not for attribution”, I’m sorry but I didn’t agree to that. (This happened to me, I did publish it).
As a general rule, the first thing that I will do with anyone who is talking to me as a journalist (like a tip etc.) is agree on the rules about how we’re talking. We don’t have to agree to go off-the-record every single time we talk and generally I want to give people the benefit of the doubt.
What’s a good tip?
A tip is like pizza. Any tip is a good tip.
But, also like pizza, some tips are better than others. Here’s what makes a great tip to me:
- If it’s about AI and Australia;
- If it’s about something that isn’t public but is in the public’s interest to know;
- if it holds powerful people to account;
- if it makes you feel really angry or sad or happy or, well, anything;
- if everyone is getting something wrong;
- if it’s something that you have firsthand knowledge about;
- if it’s something you can talk publicly about;
- if you have documentation (like messages, photos, screenshots, other proof);
- if you have lots of details;
- if you can point me to other ways to verify what you say, including other people who might back your claims up.
Do I need all that to contact you?
No. Just do it!
What happens when I contact you?
I’ll typically get back to you shortly afterwards and set up a time to chat further, whether on the phone or via messaging app.
Then, I’ll initially lay out the parameters of the conversation: typically, I’ll tell you that we can just chat off the record, completely anonymously, and give you the opportunity to tell me about what happened without having to worry about exactly what you feel comfortable saying publicly (if anything) or sharing that goes public (if anything).
Following that, I’ll usually tell if you if I’m interested in following it up. If not, I can often help you find another journalist to talk to.
Then, I’ll try to let you know how I’ll proceed: what I’m interested in, when I’d do it, what I need from you or other people to go forward.
Generally, I try to over-communicate with people I’m working with. It takes courage to talk to a journalist, so I really try to be upfront about what I can and will do.
Something you’re not sure about and I didn’t cover? Tell me and I’ll add it