INDUSTRY PROFILES

I began my journalism career as an intern with TimeOut in 2004 and would never have imagined I’d be editing the magazine 12 years later. My internship gave me a foot-in-the-door with the NZ Herald and I used it to befriend anyone who would talk to me and to volunteer for anything going. I started off working three part-time jobs (features assistant, photo archivist and editorial assistant) before I became the Herald’s first-ever online reporter in 2006. Two years later, I returned to TimeOut as a feature writer before TVNZ called me up to jump ship and become their entertainment correspondent for news and current affairs.

I spent nearly five years at TVNZ, covering entertainment and later, general news, across the NCA stable. Then my old editor from the NZH came knocking and asked me to come home and head up the entertainment team. The company was about to merge with the Radio Network to form NZME so it was a pretty exciting time – and full of challenges.

These days I run the joint entertainment and lifestyle team, overseeing the production of two weekly magazines and our digital verticals. I also work closely with our digital radio teams and work with a team of kick ass women to help mentor and develop our younger female team members. (Hot tip: I’m all about championing women in business and media.)

Give me an angle! Nothing shits me more than someone pitching an interview with no clear purpose – or expecting me to ask 20 questions to figure out a possible angle. It may be we want to take a different angle than the one you’re pitching but at least show me you’ve put some thought into it.

Also, make sure you only pitch what you can deliver. I’ll never forget a PR sending through a pitch list of ideas and when we said yes to them, she suddenly backtracked and admitted they were just ‘idea starters’ and she hadn’t actually verified any of them or secured talent.

Email. Always email. If you do need to talk to me, text me first. I spend half my life in meetings and my phone is on silent. I miss a lot of calls and I won’t call you back (Hot tip #2: I’m very direct and I make fast decisions. Tell me what you need, I’ll give you an answer. Ain’t got no time for chit chat – unless we’re pals. If you’re not sure if we’re pals, we’re not. You’d know.)

I love a good PR. They make my life easier and are great fun to lunch with. But I have very little patience for ineptitude or time-wasting. If you fail-to-deliver, I will remember and be very wary about dealing with you again. I’m also the type of person who will report back to your boss – good or bad. Do right by me and I will sing your praises loud and proud. And vice versa.

The days of me attending three events a night are long gone. I am fairly selective about what I go to but will always make the effort to attend opening nights of any big tours or shows as we’ve often covered them in the lead up and I want to see if they deliver. I’m also partial to the occasional long lunch.

These days, I actually get the biggest kick out of working my team and seeing them grow and develop. I work with an amazing team and am constantly impressed by what they come up with. Of course, there are lots of perks to working in media but the biggest one is definitely working with cool people and being able to laugh about all the bullshit.

All the bullshit. And the ever-diminishing resources. And the pressure. But I love it! Most of the time…

Wake up. Clear emails. Walk the dog. Clear emails. Walk to work. Clear emails. Meeting #1. Clear emails. Meeting #2. Clear emails. Coffee. Clear emails. Talk to my team. Clear emails. Meeting #4. Clear emails. Shove some food in my face between meetings. Meeting #5. Catch up on everything else that has happened in the world and set to work on the to do list formed from the previous five meetings. Clear emails. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

I genuinely don’t know but it would undoubtedly involve telling people what to do #bossypants

E: Joanna.hunkin@nzme.co.nz
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