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November 18, 2008
Gillian Bullock
Gillian Bullock, current editor of Charter, the magazine of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, set out to become an economic historian, but after landing a job as a stockmarket reporter on the now defunct afternoon tabloid, The Sun, she was bitten by the journalism bug and has been a finance writer ever since. In her spare time, Gillian enjoys entertaining, movies, reading, crosswords and - as an expatriate Pom - watching cricket.
64 Media: How, when and why did you become a journalist?
Gillian Bullock: I became a journalist 30 years ago, six months after arriving in Australia. My first job was as a stockmarket reporter on the now defunct afternoon newspaper The Sun. I loved the immediacy of an afternoon paper. I went on to work for the Daily Mirror for 11 years - four editions a day kept you on your toes. Interestingly, when I took my economics degree at the London School of Economics, I specialised in economic history. It took me a number of years to realise that as a financial journalist, I really was plying my trade of being an economic historian.
64: Give me a potted history of your career to date.
GB: After 11 years at the Mirror, News Ltd was offering voluntary retrenchment and it looked too good an opportunity to miss. So in 1991 I set up my business Corporate Crosswords and began freelancing (and also compiling corporate crosswords). Over the years I have written in The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and the Sunday Telegraph. I have also edited a number of publications including Money in Practice, Mortgage Brief and currently I edit Charter, the magazine of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. I also write for a number of online sites such as ninemsn and fatcat.
64: What's the best headline you've ever seen?
GB: Years ago in the food section of the Daily Mirror there was an article on cheese headed "You've got a Friend in Cheeses". And more recently I got a giggle out of the Sydney Morning Herald's take on the Rudd government's handout to low income people..."Penni
64: Who did you most enjoy interviewing and why?
GB: I enjoy interviewing most people but particularly those who are good operators. When I write technical stories, I often find that if I don't fully understand a strategy, it's usually because the person I'm interviewing is not across the subject sufficiently so they don't feed me the logical information which then allows me to ask further questions.
64: Who would you most like to interview?
GB: I'm not sure I have a particular person in mind. Anybody with intelligence, warmth and humour will always prove good interview material. You need to have a rapport with your interviewee. I invariably find out some personal information as I like to know about the person behind the interview as much as the actual content.
64: What's the biggest mistake people make when being interviewed by journos?
GB: The worst thing is when you are asked to send a written set of questions. How do you know what your second question is going to be before you have heard the answer to the first?
64: Will you allow someone you've interviewed to retract or rephrase something they said?
GB: Almost always. I don't tend to write anything too contentious so I would much prefer to have my facts straight and my interviewees happy. You can always go back to a happy interviewee and build a rapport. I would rather be accurate than worry about whether my ego is bruised because somebody does not agree with what I say.
64: Is it okay to say "No comment"?
GB: Well of course it's okay...but it doesn't make for much of a story!! And no comment can come with a whole weight of unsubstantiated assumptions.
64: Is it okay to ask to see an article before it is published?
GB: I have no qualms here at all. As I said earlier, I'd far rather be accurate. In the main, few interviewees change what I have written and if they do, it is only to more accurately reflect what they actually meant to say.
64: What's your number one tip for people when dealing with journos?
GB: Try and provide as much information as you can. Don't keep repeating the mantra that you may have been advised to say. There is nothing more frustrating than finishing an interview only to discover there is only one phrase worth using because every response contained the same message but just slightly differently worded.
64: What's the biggest no/no?
GB: At one end of the scale, don't be too aggressive and at the other don't be too taciturn. I'm not out to do a hatchet job on anybody. If you open up then I will be able to write a better story. In personal finance my aim is to build relationships with my contacts.
64: What's been the biggest PR disaster you can recall?
GB: The Garibaldi smallgoods disaster was one that springs to mind.
64: Does "off the record" really mean off the record?
GB: Yes. Sometimes it's good to get more background to better understand a topic.
64: Ecommerce guru, Perry Marshall reckons with the rise of cyber-journalis
GB: Of course I don't agree. If I did I would do myself out of a job!
