Podcast

Last week I read a Wired profile of Margit Wennmachers, who is a partner at Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. What I don’t know about investing in tech startups could fill a large bucket, so I hadn’t heard of Margit. She co-founded one of tech’s most influential PR agencies, and is one of a small number of executives at partner level with a communications background (memo to every company ever, do this! Comms belongs in the boardroom!).

Needless to say, Margit is a new hero of mine. Especially since I listened to her speak about crisis communications in one of her firm’s podcasts. Margit and her colleagues argue that a company’s culture can make or break and crisis communications plan – when disaster strikes, what will make employees rally together to help? That little conundrum is exactly why I’m interested in the crossover of organisational and crisis communications. Worth a listen (Margit’s other podcasts here).

The Australian’s media section is the best thing about the paper, a Monday treat. I was very excited when I heard about Stephen Brook’s podcast, which features an interview with an Aussie media figure each week.

I haven’t listened to every episode, but I’m in two minds about those I’ve heard so far – I’m not sure that audio is Brooks’s natural medium. And of course, the subjects know their way around interview techniques. They anticipate the negative questions, so sometimes there’s an air of defensiveness that’s a bit distracting. I still love to hear from journalists in their own words though, so it’s definitely worth a listen. The latest features Mia Freedman discussing the Twitter maelstrom she found herself in after mistreating US author Roxane Gay.