Poppy Knight

Ever since I was young, I wanted to learn everything there was to know.

I have always had a strong sense of justice. I knew what my career would be from the moment I understood how journalism can make meaningful change. 

As I draw toward the end of my degree, on the cusp of beginning my professional career, the challenge is to decide where among my broad field of interests my focus should be.

I hope that through more experience and education I might find my path and produce high quality journalism.

I got my first part-time job as soon as I was legally able, and I’m proud to say I have stayed there, moving up the ranks over the years to a managerial position.

I also work as a nanny and tutor, teaching year 2 Maths all the way up to year 12 English and Psychology.

I love to work, and I handle heavy workloads with ease. I actually enjoy pressure because that is when I do some of my best work.

I am a social butterfly, and love being a part of community, and enjoy collaborating with others in my work and studies.

I firmly believe that time is the most important resource we have, and that each day that I am healthy and able is one to be grateful for.

With the time that I have, I feel that I must use it to its full potential, taking up every opportunity and putting 100% into everything I do.

Journalism is a medium where I can share stories of hardship to catalyse change, investigate people and issues that need to be exposed, and educate myself and others on the incredible and interesting whims of the world.

I want my life to have meaning and purpose, and I know that a large part of that will be the work I do in journalism.

I produced the June 5 episode of Newsline. 

In my role I organised live crosses, live interviews and managed the members of broadcast and tech.  

With my assistant producer Amelia Mcquiod, we put together what our wonderful tech team called the most streamlined newsroom they've had.

My role as producer was one that could have been stressful, but our newsroom - and my skills in management, socialising, editorial judgement, and respect for deadlines - lead to a cohesive and calm airing.

I enjoyed organising OLAY, GRABS, STILLS, and graphics in the rundown and put together a powerful and efficient script. I subbed reporter's stories, directed in the control room, and streamlined through rehearsals ironing out all the bumps.

I learned a lot. Notably, the importance of getting the script done as soon as possible, having interviews and locations organised in the prior days (with backups), strong communication between tech and reporters, and that broadcast journalism is extremely fun!

For Thursday June 4 episode of Newsline I put together a package on Australia’s recent trends surrounding fertility, egg freezing, and solo mothers by choice (SMBC).

I was able to showcase my skills in narrating, speaking in a piece to camera, sourcing meaningful interviews, collecting overlay footage, as well as editing video and audio.

I also ensured that my piece was newsworthy, targeted towards Australian’s regarding significant social shifts.

I reported for Triple R twice, where under strict time constraints I researched relevant daily news for a Melbourne audience. I spoke professionally on live radio about that days hard hitting stories, where as a part of a newsroom team I hunted down experts for interviews, contributed my editorial judgement, and made executive decisions to meet our time requirements. For each story I successfully obtained interviews and found a fresh angle. 

For the Wednesday, I wrote four stories for our five minute bulletin, presenting three of them live on air. 

Listen to me report live at timestamps 2:00, 2:25, and 4:18.

On the Friday, listen to my reports on Trumps call to "shoot and kill" in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as on the mines laid in the waterway at timestamp 2:05. 

Also listen to me present sport at 4:00.

I was the producer and editor for this episode of The Swanston Explainer. I also conducted research and interviews for the host and presenter to discuss.

Listen in at 3:00 to hear me guest host, analysing the experiments and studies I conducted on social media, young adults, and political alignment.