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In this engaging conversation, Kristina Katsanevas interviews Melanie Petrinec, a prominent figure in Australian journalism, discussing her journey, the evolving media landscape, and the essential qualities for success in journalism. They explore the challenges of maintaining ethical standards in an age of fake news, the impact of technology, and the importance of understanding audience dynamics. Melanie shares insights on balancing passion with productivity, the media's responsibility to society, and the need for diversity of thought.
20 years in Australia’s mainstream media, from regional newsrooms to the top of one of Australia’s biggest newspapers—Melanie Petrinec has scaled the media ladder with grit and adaptability. Starting in Rockhampton in 2005, she is an award-winning court reporter, has led state-wide news teams, and now drives one of Australia’s largest media outlets, the Courier-Mail as Deputy Editor. Today, we dive into her journey, the evolving media landscape, and how quiet resilience can be a leadership superpower. Let’s get into it!
WHY THIS EPISODE IS ONE TO WATCH
🎙 Insider Insights from a Media Mogul – With two decades of journalism experience, Melanie shares hard-earned wisdom on navigating the ever-evolving media industry.
🕵️♀️ Cracking into Journalism – Learn why curiosity, persistence, and sheer enthusiasm are non-negotiables for aspiring media professionals.
🌍 The Digital Media Revolution – Discover how the industry has shifted towards online platforms and what it means for content creators, businesses, and journalists.
📰 The Ethics of News in a Clickbait Era – Understand why ethical reporting is more critical than ever in the fight against fake news and misinformation.
🤖 AI in Journalism: Friend or Foe? – Explore the impact of technology and artificial intelligence on newsrooms and the challenges of responsible integration.
📣 The Power of Audience Connection – Learn why understanding reader preferences is essential for media sustainability and subscription retention.
⚖️ Balancing Passion & Popularity – Find out how journalists juggle passion projects with audience-driven content while maintaining integrity.
💡 Media’s Role in Spreading Hope – Gain insights into why the industry must focus on solutions and positive narratives, not just sensationalism.
🌏 Diversity of Thought in Storytelling – See why inclusive representation in media shapes a more balanced and informed society.
If you're a business leader, content creator, or aspiring journalist, this episode is packed with powerful takeaways you can’t afford to miss! 🎧✨
Chapters
03:55Qualities for Success in Journalism
05:12 The Reality Behind Media Glamour
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Kristina Katsanevas (00:00)
From regional newsrooms to the top of Australia's biggest newspaper, Melanie has scaled the media ladder, covering courts, winning awards, and now drives the Courier Mail as deputy editor. Today, we dive into her journey, the evolving media landscape, and how determined resilience was the game changer to hack the Aussie media landscape. I always wanted to be a journalist because I was always curious for changing.
Work landscape is a challenge for our industry. People can get paid a lot more to go in entry-level positions with big companies. You really do have to have a passion for journalism. You've got to be enthusiastic. Five years ago we were doing certain stories that we now wouldn't do because now people don't want to read that anymore. Your audience shivers. People are going, I want to get into the media industry. What would be your words to them? Have enthusiasm. Do as much unpaid experience as you can. Be willing to just
you
Kristina Katsanevas (00:58)
Mel, thank you for joining me today. It is an honor to have you here on Transforming the Game.
How you? Thank you.
Melanie Petrinec (01:04)
problem, thanks for having me.
Kristina Katsanevas (01:07)
So let's start at the beginning. 20 years in the industry.
That must have mean you have seen it all the ups, the downs and the changes. What was it that first sparked your interest in getting into journalism in the first place?
Melanie Petrinec (01:23)
I always wanted to be a journalist. I remember from primary school really wanting to do that because I was always curious and I really liked writing and I really liked the news. know, I have parents who always read the local paper, the Gladstone Centre, and you know, I was exposed to that from a young age and
I just wanted to get involved. So that's kind of what's felt my interest. I worked through school to be able to go to uni to do that, but it did prove more difficult to break into the industry than I thought.
Kristina Katsanevas (01:52)
Now that's interesting. I love the curiosity is what sparked it, but then it sounded like you needed a bit of persistence to actually get your foot in the door, which the media industry for me does feel like one of those hard sought after industries to actually get in. What was it and how much determination that actually helped you propel your career to get in.
Melanie Petrinec (02:13)
Well, I did a lot of work experience. That was the main thing, just doing a lot of unpaid work experience. But I had to take my first job in comms. I did comms for Queensland Rail for about a year, but just the same time kept applying for jobs as they came up in the media. So I ended up getting my first job at the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, so moving back to central Queensland.
And that was probably what helped me break into the industry was having a willingness to work in regional areas.
Kristina Katsanevas (02:45)
Yeah. Do you reckon in, see that sort of work ethic, right? Do whatever it takes. Like you were focused on getting into this mainstream media. Do whatever it takes. You weren't, didn't sound like you're precious about what you were doing. It was about getting in there. Do you feel like in today's society, maybe people aren't willing to, let's say people would say slum it. They just think, I finished a degree and I should be head journalist or whatever.
Melanie Petrinec (03:10)
Yeah, totally. I think that there is a little bit of that. We do at the Corrie Mail have a great crop of cadet reporters that, you know, they are willing to do the hard yards and they're really, you know, they're very, very good. I think that's because we revamped our kind of program to be able to get kind of the best of the best graduates with that work ethic.
I do think just the changing work landscape is a challenge for our industry as well because people can get paid a lot more to go in entry-level positions with other companies, big companies. So you really do have to have a passion for journalism to really even start in the industry.
Kristina Katsanevas (03:55)
Speaking of that, what sort of qualities and traits are you looking for? And you say you've got a cadet, a cadet program, which I love, which is good entry level for people wanting to get their foot in. What are the sort of traits and qualities that would spark you to go, yeah, you've got you've got the goods and you will actually survive this industry for those that are looking to get into it.
Melanie Petrinec (04:15)
Yeah, enthusiasm is our biggest thing. You've got to be enthusiastic, want to go out to jobs, like go out to, you know, scenes or go and interview people, all of that sort of stuff. We can teach the writing and things like that later. obviously it's an advantage, but you can't teach enthusiasm. You just can't teach it. So you've got to have that.
Kristina Katsanevas (04:30)
Yeah.
Yeah,
they've got to have a passion, right? I find that with any industry where even back in my sport event days and I'd be interviewing people and they'd think they're kind of keen and you could just, I'd like to say sometimes you can just pick it going, you've got what it takes to actually survive in this industry because you're going to get down, you're going to get dirty, you're going to be able to ride the highs and lows and then you get the endorphin after the event's done. Is it the same with the...
the media industry where people think it's all glamour and getting their hair and makeup done and getting in front of a camera, but really it's, there's a lot of hard work that goes behind the scenes.
Melanie Petrinec (05:12)
Yeah, totally. I think some people get a shock particularly. Well actually in any, was going to say particularly in print journalism, but TV journalism is the same. It's not all glamour. It works bloody long hours in TV and to get where they get, it's pretty incredible what they've got to do.
So think in any media, it's long hours. There's not as much opportunity. Something that we come up against a lot at the moment is there's not as much opportunity to work from home and things like that. It's not a flexible work environment generally. We try our best to be where we can, but it's not.
So that's probably a big thing that we've known for the last five years is, and you know, I can't blame people, they want that kind of work flexibility so we're up against other industries with that.
Kristina Katsanevas (06:00)
I guess if people are looking for that and they're looking in the wrong industry, that's like for me in my parallel would say looking at a doctor and saying, a doctor saying, just like a surgeon or something say, I just want to work from home. You can't do it. Your people that you need to be with, like you've got to be with them and on site So speaking of like the evolution of flexible working and the way the landscape's gone, the evolution of media landscape, you would have seen it all from.
Melanie Petrinec (06:12)
Mmm.
Kristina Katsanevas (06:26)
back in the day of how important print media was. I remember being a teenager and flipping through the newspaper and it was such a big thing if you'd done sport and got an interview in the paper or, that's where people used to put ads wanted for a partner even. Now, fast forward now that has that has changed and evolved so much.
Melanie Petrinec (06:42)
Mm.
Kristina Katsanevas (06:49)
So what has been some defining moments for you where you've just seen an entire industry shift from this your core income stream and this is how it works to, we've got to pivot fast
or the company's going to not survive.
Melanie Petrinec (07:01)
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely in the last probably, probably the last six or seven years, like we definitely have, our print product is still incredibly important, but there's such a massive shift to online. I think the biggest business change for us is we would often hold our exclusives to run in the paper.
Now it's all about when's it going to get the best traction online? Is it going to be better to do it on say at five o'clock in the afternoon when people are coming home from their commute? all of that sort of stuff really factors into it. So it's not so much about holding your best stories to splash the paper with anymore. It is when will this work for our audience online?
Kristina Katsanevas (07:44)
so the shift goes from where your core product was, which was the paper to now it's all the customers always had the control, but now more so about now it's in my time. It's my instant gratification. It's when are they going to to get it? Because that takes me into a question I was thinking about with the dilemma on people needing information immediately.
over making their own stories up and then posting on every single platform available now. So,
Melanie Petrinec (08:13)
you
Kristina Katsanevas (08:14)
you know, fake news, real news, someone's reality or something else. How do you manage that based on what you just said on when you actually deliver the news to when you go, well, we need to get out first actually, because people are going to start spreading this.
Melanie Petrinec (08:29)
Yeah, probably a really good example of that was when the William Villa tragedy happened with the three police officers, sorry, two police officers and a civilian tragically shot out of the property at Tara.
Kristina Katsanevas (08:37)
and that's this project.
Melanie Petrinec (08:42)
You know, we were hearing a lot at the time that we just took our time to verify it, not just on the night, but in the days following. There's a lot going on about, you know, who they were, what their conspiracy theories were, all of that sort of stuff. And we just said, hang on, we need to verify all of this before it goes out. There were probably other media outlets that weren't as stringent on that.
Kristina Katsanevas (09:02)
Yes.
Melanie Petrinec (09:07)
But we're still incredibly proud of our coverage of that because we knew that everything going out was 100 % accurate. Yeah.
Kristina Katsanevas (09:13)
And
that I guess is that something that for the Courier mail, the Sunday mail, because you are one of Australia's leading media providers, is that something that's high in your value omissions that it's not all about the click bait, it's not all about that. Have you ever had a dilemma where you face deciding which story to run and when to run it based on getting the most views or actually doing what you felt internally ethically right?
Melanie Petrinec (09:42)
We always go with what's ethically right. you know, obviously mistakes get made, but in general that's our main focus is ensuring that everything's accurate. And I think that there probably was like a few years ago, not necessarily from us, but from all mainstream media, it was a real rush on that everybody had to be, first online. there was probably a bit of a
Kristina Katsanevas (10:03)
this.
Melanie Petrinec (10:06)
you know, a bit of a tendency to just go with it and then backtrack later. Because that is the thing with online, right? It's not there forever like a newspaper. You can wind it back a little bit. There definitely was that trend as kind of other media players came into the market like your Daily Mails and kind of even BuzzFeed at the time, things like that. But I think we've stepped away from that now and just gone back to our core kind of business.
But yes, like journalists, you have to work a lot quicker than you used to. So we are working to verify things to get them up as soon as possible. But we never want to compromise accuracy.
Kristina Katsanevas (10:45)
Yeah, okay. And has technology and the transformation of technology, AI, assisted you in that respect? Or it's not really playing a game there for you guys?
Melanie Petrinec (10:56)
Yeah, AI is a bit funny. We're still working out how it works with our industry. So it's a bit of a watch and see at the moment. Obviously, it makes it harder, verifying things we've had photos come across. We're like, that's AI. Like that, we can't publish that. But if, we still have to, like everybody else in society, I guess we still have to.
Kristina Katsanevas (11:00)
you
Yeah.
Melanie Petrinec (11:18)
to run our eyes over and think, that a story or has someone made that up? Is that AI? So yes, in some ways it's hindered us. I think it will benefit us in some way, but I just don't know yet. And I'm probably a bit skeptical at the moment, but there has to be a way to use it. So we'll just keep figuring it out.
Kristina Katsanevas (11:34)
Yeah.
That
it's and you know what, that's a good way for especially such a high end and traditional media outlet that you are in to that is good and probably appreciated that you guys are being a little bit cautious rather than just jumping in because there is one side of AI and I'm heavily involved with some AI and some companies where you can rush in and there is productivity uplift. But then for you, which it's all about information.
I find the biggest risk is people use AI to quickly get an outcome, but they're not stopping and verifying. They're like, here's my caption, here's my story. All people are getting super cheeky, like you say, and they are just AI-ing so many photos that you, it worries me down the track that everything will be so artificial. It will get hard to know.
Melanie Petrinec (12:11)
Hmm.
Kristina Katsanevas (12:25)
what's real. I guess if you stay that hard line that and you can hold that tradition going, our stories are still run by humans You'll keep that credibility longer until you can really verify. Has that, do you think with the way everything is going, does your target market shifted over time now in the past five years in particular?
Melanie Petrinec (12:33)
Yeah.
It has a little bit. We still have our core rusted-on readers, are the older generation that still picks up a paper, but they also, a lot of them use our digital print edition, which is on the website and you can read it like a paper, but you can read it on your iPhone or your iPad. A lot of my parents do that. A lot of older readers are doing that, so they'll still read the paper, but they'll read it online.
Kristina Katsanevas (13:00)
Mm.
Yeah.
Melanie Petrinec (13:13)
We also have a real uptick in people like our age, I guess, that are on the website. So, know, appealing to people, between, that 30 and 50 mark, some of them were the... Yeah, more or less, look it online, read the paper there, have a bit of a disposable income, but also a bit more savvy to, you know, that you're not going to get everything you need from social media, you know?
Kristina Katsanevas (13:25)
likely to get online and read your paper.
Melanie Petrinec (13:40)
and they're more likely to pay for a subscription to keep up to date with things. yeah, I feel like our target audience shifts every year. As people age out or as we get more, we've online, we've
Kristina Katsanevas (13:49)
Yeah.
Melanie Petrinec (13:56)
had this amazing opportunity to get super granular detail of who's reading, who's reading what in fact, and all of that.
Kristina Katsanevas (14:01)
Yeah, the data.
Melanie Petrinec (14:03)
you know, we analyze that a lot. And it does often change. I think like at the start of, you know, when we had, you know, we still have paywalls. But at the start of that, you know, we were getting a lot of people just paying to read, you know, their local kind of their neighbor getting arrested and, for myth were getting a lot of that, especially in kind of regional areas. But then
they go with the deal for a month, know, a dollar for a month or whatever, and then they just, you know, they just wouldn't. Yeah. So we really, we had a focus on doing a lot of those stories at the start and then it's like, they're not, they're not retaining their subscription. So now we've kind of had to pivot and go, what, what are people who are going to, are more likely to retain their subscription? What are they going to read? So the analytics of it are super fascinating when you see who's reading what.
Kristina Katsanevas (14:33)
and stop.
Yes.
I love that you've tapped on something I'm very passionate about. So I'm always passionate about the people side of things in the business and the data. And I think sometimes people really like fly over the data side. And what you're pretty much saying is even in the media industry, any industry, especially if you're needing to pivot and in such a influential and high profile and scrutinized industry.
Melanie Petrinec (15:17)
for.
Kristina Katsanevas (15:18)
the importance
of getting down into the detail of looking at the analytics and really understanding that to make sure you stay ahead of the curve, right?
Melanie Petrinec (15:27)
Yeah, totally. We've had cases where five years ago we were doing certain stories that we now wouldn't do because five years ago that was really working, but now it's not. People don't want to read that anymore. Your audience shifts so quickly. And just keeping up to date with that is super important. But it also, as a journalist, gives you an idea of what people actually just want to read.
like are you stuff that no one wants to read? What's the point of writing stuff no one wants to read? And then that comes back to productivity.
Kristina Katsanevas (15:56)
Okay.
And that comes, that's exactly it. So it's about creating a culture now in your company where people aren't writing what they want to write, but you're actually customer focused and going, we need to write what they want to read. So that's...
some companies really struggle when they've got to adapt and change, right? And people get really stuck and this is what I've always done, especially in your industry. You're constantly needing to change your audience and then probably the style of writing and then when it's going out and everything, how do you keep your team not change fatigued? I hear that a lot in the big companies where they're,
like obviously change fatigue and where there's fatigue, how do you combat that to keep all your people working at the highest productivity? Because, this is make or break industry where if you're not constantly biting at the top, you can get left behind really quickly, I feel.
Melanie Petrinec (16:46)
Yeah, that's a really good question. I think it's something that we're constantly trying to work on. I think that, you know, like I say that we use the data to inform what we're writing, but there's also journalism that is like what we would call higher purpose journalism that is not necessarily going to go amazingly online, but it's going to make a difference.
And I think that in the community, socially, et cetera, a lot of our campaigns around mental health, housing and things like that didn't necessarily get clicks online, but we got billions of dollars for mental health funding and housing and things like that. So I think sometimes it's kind of that offset of getting journalists to focus on some of those passion projects.
work at two speeds, like you've got your passion projects on one side that are going to make a difference and you're going to feel good about it. And then you might have a story that you don't feel as passionate about, but it'll probably go okay online. It's still worthy, but you might turn that around a little bit quicker, what you're still focusing on, the stuff that people get into journalism for. We get into journalism to make a difference to, what's the ultimate game.
Kristina Katsanevas (17:59)
for.
Melanie Petrinec (18:02)
So yeah, so we try and balance it that way.
Kristina Katsanevas (18:05)
Yeah, okay, because media, feel, really does have a responsibility and an influence on society that is beyond probably any other industry, really. You see it when you have the pandemic and everything, the way the media picks up certain things or how they are only reporting on the deaths. And then I watched it pivot to...
to less about that and then about only how many people were getting related. You could see how it changed. Do you think the media does have a responsibility to still put out that hope and that inspiration? Not to mention that helps with all the AI people looking up stuff because they'll pick up information like that, but there is a responsibility to provide some hope or is it just always hard truths? And because that does get the clicks.
Melanie Petrinec (18:48)
No, I think we do have a responsibility to provide that, definitely. that's something that we've got to juggle. I know that, you know, in some of our theories,
that we do, like we've done a lot around the Olympics. some of it has had to be, I guess negative around the debate for venues, etc. But ultimately, we're trying to provide hope and help make a better Brisbane, right? Like, or Queensland altogether. So, yeah, I think we do have that responsibility. I think we have responsibility to be kind of champions for, our
Kristina Katsanevas (19:04)
Yeah.
Yes.
Melanie Petrinec (19:19)
regions that we work in. So for us, it's Queensland. We've always got to put Queensland first and talk up Queensland, not talk it down.
Kristina Katsanevas (19:24)
Yes.
Mm.
And some do say that media has power. It's more concentrated in the hands of just a few. Do you think that does impact diversity of thought? you think back to not that I follow American media but You do hear that, Fox is very much on one political side Sky's on the other And that if you listen to one
that when I was in America, you're listening to one and it was almost bashing their president. And I'm like, you don't really hear that in Australia as much. And then you change the channel and they're bashing the other side. And I was whoa, it's really, and that's just too, too intense for me. In Australia, do we have a balance or do you think there is, there's the diversity of thought could diversify more?
Melanie Petrinec (20:08)
I think we've got a pretty good balance. I guess you've kind of got us with the crew, now it's a little bit different. We're kind of, we're probably play things a little bit straighter, but you you've got News Corp, you've got ABC, you've got The Guardian, you've got
you know, daily mail, you've got, well, what we used to call Fairfax, which is now nine. It's all, and then I guess you've got a factor in social media too, like there's that, I think that we can always work on diversity. think, we try at the Courier now, you know, in our opinion sections to get a, diverse opinions in there,
Yeah, you can always work on it. I don't think we'll ever end up kind of like, America, where, it's probably a lot of voices, but I think we're pretty good.
Kristina Katsanevas (20:52)
I agree. I do know the Courier mail has always been, pretty on par with with bringing the news. It's it's got for me credibility. You've never jeopardized in my opinion, so I think that when you hold that true for society now, they know if you're looking for news and when it's so confusing, there's so much out there and you're trying to see what's true.
I personally do feel and tell me if you feel the same that people do still turn to the Courier Mail to go well I feel like it's a source of truth more so if you print it then maybe yes if it's just online social media Instagram TikTok less so.
Melanie Petrinec (21:15)
Thank
Yeah, I think so. I think that we, like as mainstream media, we've all got an obligation to maintain our credibility. I think that comes back to what I was talking about before, not necessarily having to be first with it, but obviously we want to be first with it, but we need to be verifying it.
We've always had a big focus on credibility, but in this social media and AI age, it's even more so. It's something that we really, really strive towards and to maintain.
Kristina Katsanevas (21:54)
How do you in this industry, how do you believe moving forward next five years it's still a business in the end, So you still, you have to be profitable or you can't pay people to be journalists. So how do you believe it can remain profitable with such an era of free information? What's, what's going to be the focus for you guys?
Melanie Petrinec (22:13)
I think again it's maintaining that credibility so that people keep buying subscriptions so that they know that they're going to get the accurate kind of news from us. So that'll be our main focus over the next five years is just maintaining that credibility and offering more to be honest. We're diversifying into things like, I never thought I'd be involved in documentary making.
Kristina Katsanevas (22:19)
Yeah, subscription.
Melanie Petrinec (22:37)
documentaries or mini-Docco's or just mini-Docco theories. We've done podcasts, which was obviously incredibly successful for people like Hebley Thomas at The Australian who did the Chris Dawson podcast that everyone knows so well.
Kristina Katsanevas (22:53)
Yep.
Melanie Petrinec (22:55)
So we are moving into other things that I just never thought that we would do. So a lot of our young journalists have to almost be TV journalists as well because we're doing so much in that kind of video space.
Kristina Katsanevas (23:07)
Yeah.
everything. I love that. And that just shows the pivot Like you say, you've gone from back in the day, a kid might have been a really good storyteller and writer, and they're going to get into print. And now the diversification that you need to get into the industry, it's not just writing anymore. You can teach that it's a willingness, it's a passion. It's now, I love getting into the documentaries, tell me about it, getting online, having to get yourself that personal branding out there, the company branding.
Melanie Petrinec (23:23)
Okay.
Kristina Katsanevas (23:34)
out there and even each individual needs to be very careful about what they put out online because it doesn't go away and if you want a job in your industry then you've got to be a bit more careful and about
what's out there. What do you think print or digital media?
Melanie Petrinec (23:50)
I choose digital. I still love print. I love making papers, but myself, I always read the digital edition.
Kristina Katsanevas (23:57)
You're on the digital, the subscription. And
that's the transition of the generations. What's your most memorable headline?
Melanie Petrinec (24:01)
Yeah.
my gosh.
there's been so many. Look, I'm not great at writing headlines. Our guys in the office are a lot better at that. We did have one that, it's not a hilarious headline. Well, actually the best headline ever would be the NT News, I put a cracker up my clacker. That is the best headline. That was the bloke who literally put a cracker up his clacker.
And then a few, know, a year later was the infamous like James Packer fight with his kind of boss of Channel 9 at the time. And then they did the headline, I've got a packer up my clacker, which was really great. So that's probably the best. you know, we've had, you know, one of the ones that recently was award winning from our office, which was the paper I was editing, was the headline scarred for likes
which was a tragic story about basically kids self-harming on TikTok to get likes So that was probably one of the more poignant kind of ones. But yeah, there's been a lot. Too many to remember, but the NT News always delivers.
Kristina Katsanevas (25:02)
social media here.
They're Breed of their own up there. love that.
Who do you think has inspired you the most in the media world?
Melanie Petrinec (25:12)
When I was younger it was Yarn Event on 16th. I just loved, loved Yarn Event. Probably she was the one helped me become a journalist and just watching her on TV all the time in the 80s and 90s. And then you know probably every editor I've kind of ever had has been amazing and just helped me along on my journey.
Kristina Katsanevas (25:14)
sorry about that.
Yeah.
If people knew there's a younger version of Mel out there listening to this and going, I want to get into the media industry what would be your words to them?
Melanie Petrinec (25:42)
Have enthusiasm, do as much unpaid experience as you can, you know, within reason obviously and just also just be willing to just get in and work.
Kristina Katsanevas (25:55)
Work your way and you'll get where you want to be. Stay focused and passionate. Love the industry,
Melanie Petrinec (25:59)
Yeah,
definitely.
Kristina Katsanevas (26:01)
Well, thank you so much, Mel, for your time. It's been absolutely amazing to get sort of the insides into the media world and the workings and then just how as a woman working your way up into such a successful role, but then also having to pivot such a crazy landscape in the last 20 years, it hasn't been smooth. It's completely changed. we'll be seeing you on documentaries and Netflix before you know it.
Melanie Petrinec (26:25)
Mmm.
Kristina Katsanevas (26:25)
So I really
do appreciate taking your time to talk to us today. Thank you.
Melanie Petrinec (26:29)
No way! All good, thanks