Farewell: 27 things Virginia Trioli learned at the ABC

Creative Types host Virginia Trioli is leaving the ABC and is working on two books and a TV script, among other things. (ABC News) Link copiedShareShare article"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes" - Oscar Wilde After almost 40 years in Australian journalism, 27 of them at the ABC, I am now in possession of enough mistakes to claim a small amount of experience. As this will be my last column for you, here are 27 things, in no particular order, that I have learned in that time, some more important than others. The most important involve food. And music. And friends. If you ever have the chance, try to work with friends. 1) The most important person at the ABC is not the managing director (sorry, Hugh), nor is it the Chair of the Board: the most important person is whoever is in the seat at the front desk of an ABC building. That person knows everything, can get you into anywhere — or keep you locked out of the lot. They are diligent, discreet and unfailingly good humoured. Sorry for all those times I didn't have my security pass on me at 3.00 in the morning … 2) The second most important is the tech, always part of a pair, who gets you on air with minutes to go. 3) There are dust bunnies in some studios that are so old they have myxomatosis. Someone really should clean them, one day. 4) Every mic is hot, every camera is on. You'd think that I would have learned that by now … 5) A small steak and a fried egg is the best start you can have for three hours of live breakfast TV. 6) Spanx are a misogynistic conspiracy designed to make women feel bad about their natural shape. They are also the only thing strong enough to hold up and insulate you from two clip-on microphone packs that will usually heat up to the intensity of a hair iron. 7) Never wear stockings: wear fake tan. With those mic packs on, no woman presenter needs one more thing like a pair of tights strangling her around the waist. 8) We presenters are nothing — NOTHING — without our producers. The day my beloved radio producer, Colin Tyrus — the first reporter on the spot at the Hoddle Street shooting of 1987 — told me he was leaving journalism, I sat and cried, wailing "now they're going to find out I can't actually do this". Every great producer since has made me better. You don't see them on air, but you should know them. 9) There is little worse than a bad producer: an hysterical one, a disorganised one, or a nasty one. Going on air with them feels like being asked to figure skate on a half-frozen pond. 10) If you find yourself locked down for the 154th time during a pandemic in Melbourne, drag out the credit card and order a delivery of croissants, tarts and those weird things called cronuts for your exhausted team, make coffee, cry until you start laughing again and then go on air and do your job. To my producers Katrina, Matilda, Kelsey and Julz — I only survived those years because of you. 11) Don't organise a meeting if it can be sorted with an email. Don't send an email if you can just cross the floor and have a chat. And if they're just as busy as you are, don't have the chat just sort it yourself. 12) Garlic and legumes must be removed from the diet of the breakfast television host. At least for Monday to Friday. 13) The audience comes first. Every choice you make as a broadcaster should be in their service: for their erudition, for the truth they deserve, or for their genuine entertainment. Every other choice bargains with that principle. 14) If in doubt, play some disco: off air, on air, while you're desperately trying to find the lead story to the show that you're half an hour away from presenting. It solves most problems, and even if it doesn't it always helps. 15) You can learn how to listen. It doesn't always come naturally, especially if you're a loudmouth like me with lots that I think is interesting to say. But if you quiet your ego and your mind, lean into a conversation with the sole purpose of making that other person as interesting as possible, then listening becomes the state of being that you crave to be in. 16) Coffee is of course hit and miss when you're out reporting on the road. Take a jar of instant, use the sachets in the motel room. It's absolutely fine. 17) If you make a mistake, apologise. If you think you've made a mistake, apologise. Tell the audience, tell the reader. Costs nothing, means everything. 18) And if you're working in my team and you make a mistake, as we all do, but you won't own it, or you deny it, or you get defensive about it — go work somewhere else. 19) Almost nothing should be off the record: it's either on the record or not said at all. We give too many free passes to people with too many agendas, or as a transactional bit of journalism with people we hope will feed us future stories by taking their "off the record" comments. It's a disservice to the audience. Virginia Trioli is leaving the ABC to pursue her own creative projects. (ABC) 20) There are no d

Farewell: 27 things Virginia Trioli learned at the ABC

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Farewell: 27 things Virginia Trioli learned at the ABC

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