You can read the original story on Dyson Heydon by Jacqueline Maley and Kate McClymont here
[2:35] Jacqui talks about how she got into journalism originally
\"It's just such a fun job. From the moment I stepped into the newsroom I was like OK these are my people … it's fun, it's interesting, you're surrounded by really funny, irreverent, mad and intense kinds of people.\"
\"You get to meet incredible people and just ask some intensely personal and nosey questions upon meeting them because you've got this free pass, because you're a journalist\"
[5:35] Jacqui on the origins of the investigation into former high court judge Dyson Heydon by herself and Kate McClymont, and how things then unfolded across two years
\"We joined forces and then hit the phones … old-fashioned blanket calling as many people as [we] could … it was this exponential growth in phone calls that ended up being this big web.\"
[12:15] Jacqui discusses the gravity of the interviews with the alleged victims in the case
\"Let's be honest – the journalistic calculus is like, 'the worse the alleged transgression, the better the story'. So you're looking at all of that … but as a human being you're like, well if it was me, would I want to do it? And how can I ask someone on a personal level to make this kind of sacrifice?\"
\"We had all these disparate threads and then it all came together … we were interested in the institutions as well because we knew it was a bigger story than just one man\"
\"I don't think it matters what the first phone call is – only that you keep making a lot of phone calls … you have a tip, you think something might be there, and then you call as many people as you can\"
[16:18] Jacqui on the rollout of not only the breaking high court news story but the follow-ups thereafter
[17:50] Jacqui on her personal anxiety around the story and its release
[21:00] Jacqui discusses her satisfaction from the way the Heydon story has paved the way for a look at the courts more broadly in the weeks since it broke
[21:52] Jacqui on conducting sensitive issues
[23:20] Jacqui on the world of investigative reporting more generally, and perception versus reality
\"It can be quite dispiriting. You go through periods when you're like, 'No-one's going to talk to me, no-one's going to go on the record … I've just spent weeks chasing this thing and it's all going to come to nothing … I've done all this work and I've got nothing to show for it. You've got to have an inner-resilience to just keep going\"
[26:15] Jacqui answers our hypothetical: What historic scandal would she like to be dropped into the middle of as an investigative reporter, and why?
","author_name":"Black Lab Podcasts"}