On the first day of the UN's Copenhagen Climate Change Conference I thought it might be wise to spruik an environmental magazine I am currently working on.

Sustainability Magazine covers both scientific and political news on climate change and environmental conservation and sustainability issues, with a particular focus on Australia.

I am the deputy editor for the second issue of the mag, which will include analysis of Copenhagen and its aftermath, and be available on news stands and online early next year.

In the meantime, I'm helping manage the magazine's online component, which aims to boost discussion and analysis alongside daily news updates. Follow 'Sustainablogger' on Twitter, read daily blogs on our website and become our fan on Facebook.

You can also find a recent blog post I wrote for Sustainability summarising the recent political drama in Australia (which led to the failure of the Government's emissions trading scheme and the installation of a new Opposition leader) here.

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"I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal."


















Check out my first contributor bio (for Insto) here.

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Yesterday, the first copies of this quarter's issue of Insto arrived in the office.

The understated tradition of basking in the glow of the fruit of the last few months' hard work usually lasts for about 15 minutes, and always seems to pass too quickly. First, there's the squeal or yelp from the first person to notice the big brown box entering the premises (This is usually me. Sometimes it's a cross between a squeal and a yelp).

Then there's the eager handing out of copies to the editorial team - the graphic designer carefully scrutinises everything from the colour of the cover to the glue on the spine of the magazine. The contributors lean back in their chairs smugly and flip through the contents, looking out for their articles before seeking each other out to pat themselves on the back once again for a job well done. Self-serving compliments like: "That turned out really well!" and "I really loved the way that page came together" are exchanged, before everyone returns to their respective desks and reluctantly puts their copies just out of their line of vision so they can continue their work.

This issue focused on the future of banking beyond the global financial crisis, with a series of lead articles covering the potential growth of different areas of the financial system. I wrote an article - "Anti-Trust the System" - about the future regulation of Australia's major four banks, which are predicted to grow even bigger on the back of government guarantees.

This is my first cover story. Cover stories are significant because they are of the few selected to feature on the front of a magazine to entice readers to open it, and are therefore usually the first to be read. I never imagined that my first cover story would be about financial regulation. I mean, it wasn't so long ago that I was buying magazines for cover lines like "How to get great cheekbones in 10 minutes". (I knew it could only lead to a single page on blush, foundation sticks and bronzers but I decided the editor's gall deserved $7 if nothing else.)

It was particularly fortuitous that my first cover line was featured on issue #11 (my lucky number), the cover design a throwback to the 1980s Michael J Fox film trilogy "Back to the Future" - the first of which is one of my favourites.




My article starts in a similarly colourful way, and even features a cartoon image I personally selected for the spread. Who said finance was boring, eh?

You can read the story below. Click on the images to enlarge them.

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The penny has finally dropped for the leaders of the world's largest economies: badly thought out and sloppily negotiated executive pay contracts have actually proved to be a failure of risk management, as Jane Lee reports.




Check out the rest of my first article in the latest issue of INSTO magazine (and first financial news article) here:

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For the past month I've been working on Australian Innovation, the official publication of the Australian Innovation Festival. The first copies arrived yesterday, and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I sub-edited a number of the articles and advertorials that appeared in the book, and even contributed a few stories of my own, namely:

Curiosity Killed the Copycat - p.63

Picking Winners - p.107

Sharks in Shock - p.116

Secret Inventors' Business - p.117


More on this a little later.

You can check out an online version of the magazine here.

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Update:

I always thought working in a magazine would mean living the glamorous life - wearing expensive clothes, swishing away super shiny locks and carrying away bags of freebies from expensively catered events...though much of this was probably drilled into me by one too many hours spent re-watching 'The Devil Wears Prada'. (Don't judge me, you've all done it too, I know, and coveted those Chanel boots at one stage or another. Bite me.)

But after getting Jane Bruton her breakfast every day (a fruit cup and a bottle of water from that particular store in Covent Garden) and watching the Features Editor of an Australian magazine that shall remain nameless paint her fingernails with dark purple nailpolish at her desk, the once sparkling snapshot of magazine life in my head became a little dull and tattered around the edges.

The B2B publishing house where I work presented an equally huge culture shock to my system. I can count the number of women in the office on one hand on most days (part-time interns excluded, for now). And yes, the gender-shift really does change the culture of a newsroom. Compared to the wire service routine to which I was by now accustomed, the pace seemed to slow right down. Until, that is, production week before deadline arrived out of nowhere, and everyone simultaneously shifted gears to accommodate the adrenaline rush.

Call me a self-absorbed brat (though maybe not to my face too early in the morning) but I will never tire of seeing my words and name in print. The day the first copies of the book came in, I could hardly contain myself, and in the words of my colleague, 'jumped around'.

Sure, we may have all made daily sarcastic jokes about how, being a B2B book, rather than a consumer publication, with a large number of politically spun commissioned articles, our readership would not be mind-blowing and our best efforts would not be acknowledged by many. I can tell you with all honesty I've had my own doubts about the 'value' of my contribution to that elusive and self-effacing profession of 'journalism' in the production of this magazine.

Nevertheless, in came the prints, in their awkwardly fragile brown cardboard boxes. And there we each sat on our respective wheely-chairs, music blaring on the radio in the background - for once, the only audible sound in the room. Flicking through each page painstakingly for errors, squinting at the cover, holding up the spine to the light to examine the glue that connected pages we had gone over for days on end. Jokes aside, we take a lot of pride in what we do. And the same can be said for the best journalists in the business.

That's good enough for me.

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What an obscure post title. The Hs stand for the Hack Half Hour.
I ordinarily try to shy away from any form of advertising on this blog, but this is really too good to miss, and I guess it could count as shameless self-promotion*, which we all know I'm in tremendous favour of.

I always go on about how I think it's tragic that young people are so apathetic about politics and the world around them these days, and that the media alone holds the key to somehow turning this around by making news palatable and relevant to us again.

In all seriousness, I think this show, a TV-version of Triple J's excellent program The Hack, could really make a difference to the problem. 'Current affairs' is no longer a dirty word in the world of Australian journalism!

I could rant about this show forever but I think it speaks for itself:

The first episode aired on ABC2 on Monday night. Get it while it's hot.


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Update: watch it online here.

*I've been intern-ing on the show for the past few weeks.

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...and my first climate change story!-- Get it here, and at Reuters Alertnet, and EcoEarth.

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Yes, I do write stuff other than lifestyle. These aren't recent, but I forgot to post them up at the time:

AIDS women fight fear and stigma as well as disease

Circumcision could save millions from AIDS

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Okay, so unless you've been living on Mars, in a cave, under a rock, with your fingers in your ears (Simpsons reference muahaha), or, made the massive mistake (of equal proportion) of not talking to me or reading my emails or my blog of late, then you should know that I got my first byline at Reuters on Thursday, followed by a second on Friday. And here's how it happened:

I've written stories for Reuters all year- The process is, you write a story, put your name on the bottom next to "reporting by", it goes out on the wire, and clients take it from the wire and put it on their websites or print outlets citing "Reuters" as the source with the reporter left unknown. (This would explain why many people when told I work at Reuters, often make a face and then go 'OHHHH rooters....they're in the paper sometimes.' In actual fact, Reuters is the largest international media agency in the world. But life goes on.) If you're lucky enough to get a byline for a bigger story, your name appears on the client's website, magazine etc, as the name would suggest, underneath the title, along with the Reuters logo.

I haven't been writing many stories lately because I need to get out of work on time to rush to uni or home to Foucault essays and whatnot. But for some reason I really felt like writing one on Thursday. So I asked Mike Perry, the general correspondent there on the day, "Hey, any lifestyle stories today?" I did a Reuters version of the announcement that Cate Blanchett and her husband are becoming the new creative directors of the Sydney Theatre Company. Pretty standard stuff. Called up the company to confirm the announcement...and got put on hold by admin about a trillion times..(all I wanted to know was whether it was true, and what capacity they'd be employed in- you'd think the STC was the new CIA. Geez. I hardly think...hmm let's not go there. This isn't China yet but if you've been to a U.S. border or airport lately you'd know to watch yourself a little more closely.)

I asked the same kinds of questions when finally put through to a media publicist (usually the only person willing to speak on behalf of the company/firm etc...clearly admin people are in fear of their livelihoods too.) THEN....she finally told me that all these questions would be answered at a press conference that was happening the next day...yep...with Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Robin Nevin and a bunch of other STC execs...yep got it. Wait a SECOND! Cate Blanchett?! Say what now?!

Now here's something interesting for those who are remotely interested in how a media agency works. I think that even after, what is it now, 11 months, I still expect the newsroom to be like 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman', where two journalists are always needed on every story in manner of undercover cops in any of the Law and Order programs, with Jimmy trailing close behind in some huge team effort to put a single story together. But its not all cheery, inefficient and counter-productive- it just doesn't work that way. Each department is responsible for their output, which I learned when I told Baris, the head of Reuters TV about it over the phone, as in- so we're going tomorrow yes? To which he replied, "Am I going? I don't know if I want to go." And to which Mike said, "Well he's head of TV, I guess its his call."

To the announcement of a press conference, Mike said- Great, are you going?
I said- "Yep" (While thinking: ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY OF COURSE! ITS CATE-ELIZABETH I: I-WILL -KEEP-HIM-ALIVE-TO-REMIND-MYSELF-HOW-CLOSE-I-CAME-TO-FALLING- VIRGIN QUEEN BAD ASS CATE BLANCHETT!! SPELLED WITH A C!)

The next day I strolled in at 9 on the dot, to find my boss asking: "Did you see Tim (photographer) on your way in? He's left already you'd better call him" (F--K!) Composure quickly waning, I did. He was on his way. F--K F--K! He was no Jimmy Olsen that's for sure. The previous day's lesson dawned on me- yes, photos is separate to print also. Photos can be picked up by clients independently. I was very much alone on this story, without trusting Jimmy and Clark in tow. And without the cute shiny brown bob and skirt suits my Superman counterpart always managed to look resplendent in. And, alas, no dreamy Dean Cain to tilt his clearly-fake glasses down his nose and giving a knowing smile....back to the story though.

Tip: do not wear boots on a sunny day, when walking from Wynyard to Walsh Bay. Dripping with sweat I managed to muster my: I know I look about 10 yrs old but I'm a very serious journalist look, shot off a "The press conference?" quip to the guy at the door and the pair outside the room. Journos, cameras EVERYWHERE. Sound checks. Notebooks ready in laps, tape recorders out. Dark but for the lighting on the table. Door on the side they were sure to enter in from. I needed to position myself- strategically, where I could easily make eye contact with the person directing the conference and indicating to different reporters that it was their turn to speak. Aisle seat, third row. Not too ostentatious, not too far removed. Perfect.

WIthout too much gushing, I must say the room froze when she walked in. Cate Blanchett that is. None of that anorexic child-like-in-manner-of-Kate-Moss-and-model-from-Portmans-prettiness. She is beautiful- graceful, articulate, witty, and so on. And most notably, very much aware yet unfazed by the million flashes poked provokingly right into her face the entire 45 minutes.

Newsday was a blessing in disguise. Determined to make my presence felt, I made sure I kept up with the rhythm of the questions rather than getting sucked in awe by being in the presence of someone who has accomplished so so very much in such a short time. I made sure to get my hand ready for raising right in that 2 second pause between the moment the question has been answered and the moment eye contact has been made and the reporter asks his/her next question. Its amazing really, but I GOT TWO QUESTIONS IN it was EXCELLENT. We had to identify ourselves - "Jane Lee, Reuters news" before asking questions just like in those press conferences you see in those patriotic-alien American movies like Independence day with the President of the day. Sure, I stuttered. Sure they weren't stellar thought-provoking story making questions but they were nevertheless legitimate and respectful, not warranting the rebuffs she gave a journalist from the Australian, and from the ABC and rightfully so (they were about 10th to ask similar questions of her):

Journo 1: Something to the effect of : "Cate you're a well known celebrity, what effect will this have on Australian theatre?"
"Its interesting, when people want to compliment you they call you a serious actress, internationally recognised, works to acclaim...and when they want you to insult you, you're a celebrity."

Journo 2: Something to the effect of: "How much time will you realistically be able to devote to STC with your film schedule being the way it is?"
"The acceptance of the role of co-creative director of this company is not a dalliance. It is an absolutely firm commitment,"
"Sometimes I may take that (three months) up, sometimes I may not but my primary responsibility is to co-manage and lead this company whilst also maintaining my own engagement as an artist."

Damn straight. Haha.
My two questions:
1. "What is the significance this role holds for you, in coming back to the place where you started your acting career?"
2. "What is your opinion on the state of the Australian Film Industry today it seems to be in a bit of a slump despite the fact we have so many talented actors of our own like yourself doing so well overseas?"

My 5 seconds of fame:
If you watched Today Tonight or ABC news on Friday night you would have seen a wide shot of the desk Blanchett Nivin and Upton were sitting from the back of the room, and a funny silhouette of a person leaning into the aisle in the middle of the room, arm shaking and nervously oustretched with a tape recorder in hand- THAT WAS MY HAND! Clearly , I'm still excited. That's because the best part is- I got my first real byline out, and it went GLOBAL. The two stories are in the Washington Post, Reuters UK and Reuters Alertnet (where I hope to work some day) American abc, MSN Newsbot and Yahoo news, as well as a lot of smaller news websites.

Work-wise: It was even sweeter because seconds after the first story went on the wire Mike said :"Ha, Jane you're famous!", as he'd been messaged online by a lady from the Singapore bureau, who said: "Mike you're a star!! (He edited the story) Who is Jane Lee?" My boss told me the lady, who's actually met me once before on a previous visit to Sydney is head of editorial content in Reuters' Asia Pacific region for general news, and fairly tough to impress. After the press conference on the second day, a guy from the Canberra buro who I've also met once before came in for a visit. I told him what I was working on and he said, "Oh yeah I read your piece yesterday it was great. Apparently Singapore were thrilled." (We report to the Singapore buro).
My boss also texted me when she saw the shadow of my back on ABC hahah...
And today, Mike told me the American papers, like the Washington Post are particularly difficult to crack into. Hopefully I'm well on my way.

Daydreams of the press conference that didn't come true:
Before I asked my question, I imagined Cate Blanchett saying: "Wait, wait. Hold up. You are so beautiful you have the face of an academy award winner, STOP THE PRESS CONFERENCE I need to take this stunner under my wing and get her ready for STC's ensemble of actors. SHUT UP ROBIN I know my contract doesn't start till 2008 but Goddamnit this can't wait. Her youth is draining out of her as we speak. Let's get her into makeup and wardrobe and start rehearsals straightaway. Come here sweetheart you're my new protoge. I'm 37 and have two boys but I can pass my wonderful legacy on to you before its too late. Money? Don't worry about it I'll fund all your acting/vocal training, get you a record and movie deal and ship you off to my penthouse in L.A. tomorrow."

Sadly, no.

But all in all a great couple of days to end J2.

And I'm now much more focused as a result on where I want to end up:
Top 3 Goal Workplaces:
1. Reuters- NY bureau
2. Reuters- UK bureau
3. Reuters- Alertnet




Photographer: Tim Wimborne



Loving it.

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Alert Net- Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD145160.htm

Reuters- UK
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-11-10T060720Z_01_SYD145160_RTRUKOC_0_UK-LIFE-BLANCHETT.xml&WTmodLoc=HP-C5-Ents-3

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110900043.html

Three places I never imagined I would see my name...ever.

Its all worth it in the end.

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