Storytellers: Questions, Answers and the Craft of Journalism

by Leigh Sales

Highly respected ABC anchor, bestselling author and hit podcaster Leigh Sales interviews the cream of Australian journalists about their craft – how (and why) they bring us the stories that inform our lives.

Leigh Sales is one of Australia’s most accomplished journalists, having anchored the ABC’s flagship 7.30 program for twelve years. She has been a foreign correspondent, hosted Lateline and anchored numerous elections for the ABC. In this book, she turns her interviewing skills onto her own profession, those usually asking the questions: the journalists.

In ten sections – from News Reporting to Editing, via Investigative, Commentary and of course Interviewing – Sales takes us on a tour of the profession, letting the leaders in their field talk direct to us about how they get their leads, survive in war zones, write a profile, tell a story with pictures, and keep the show on the road. A who’s-who of Australian journalism – including Lisa Millar, Kate McClymont, Hedley Thomas, Trent Dalton, Benjamin Law, Tracy Grimshaw, Richard Fidler, David Speers, Stan Grant, Niki Savva, Waleed Aly, Annabel Crabb, Karl Stefanovic and Mia Freedman – talk candidly about their greatest lessons and their trade secrets.

A fascinating insight into a vital and much-misunderstood profession, Storytellers is a book for anyone who’s ever wanted to be a journalist, or even just wondered how the news gets made.

344 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2023

About the author

Leigh Sales is an Australian author and journalist. She is the host of the Australian television channel ABC’s flagship news and current affairs program 7.30.

Reviews

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was delightful. I wanted to be a writer from when I could read, and spent all primary and high school wanting to be a journalist, up until two weeks before my TEE exams when I heard that there were no jobs in journalism in WA. I ended up studying psychology instead 🤦🏼‍♀️

I’ve taken up writing a newsletter in my 30s and it is the delight of my days. Plus I listened to Chat 10 Looks 3 for aaaaaages. So all of this to say, this was completely up my alley. A craft book but specifically applied to journalism. I much preferred the sections on print and online writing, only because that’s where my interests lie.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great stories here. The author interviews many journalists who talk about what makes a good journalist.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some anecdotes very interesting, but not super engaging as a non-journalist