It’s the job of a journalist to bring light to stories and people, but it’s not often they are in the spotlight.

At PritchittBland Communications we’ve kicked off a special blog series where we put the spotlight on Australian financial journalists and dig a little deeper to find out where they’ve come from and what drives a good story.

See it from their perspective and read the interview with our next guest, Julia Newbould.

Why did you decide to go into journalism?

I fell into journalism after graduating from economics. At the time my ideal job was as PR for the ASX and so I looked at a range of PR roles but each told me I’d need writing experience first. I decided on a whim to visit my local newspaper to see if they had any roles available. They hired me for a couple of freelance days and after that offered me a graduate cadetship. I soon realised it was a job I loved – I am genuinely interested in people and their stories – and I think constantly asking questions and learning about different subjects is what keeps me content in the media. Of course, there’s also the additional attraction of feeling that you can make a difference by highlighting important issues. At the local paper we covered issues from education to council, courts, police and environmental – all which directly affected our communities’ lives. This gave me great insight into working with particular audiences and discerning the issues most important to them. I worked in travel and hospitality media before moving to finance where I found my best fit.

What about the finance industry interests you the most?

The finance industry makes many decisions affecting peoples’ lives – from the superannuation system being designed to give people a comfortable and dignified retirement, to the building of private wealth to help people live their best lives. Before coming to Conexus I spent two years at Money magazine where we were very focused on the end consumer who were desperate for information to help them achieve better lives. What became quite clear to me there was that average Australians were not those working in the financial industry, in the main. I’m always conscious that we step back and think about the end consumers in all that we do. Really make sure they are at the centre of our thinking. Now at Conexus, and looking at both institutional and adviser markets it is still the focus that both advisers and super fund are working to achieve the best results for their future – whether that is by changing legislation in this area, or encouraging more transparency, or focusing on insurance, or enabling easier access to advice. If we do our job right – we really can make a marked difference to the way people live.

What are you looking forward to seeing happen in the financial landscape in the next 5 years?

In the next five years, I’d like to see advisers become better acknowledged as professionals. I’d like to see people understand when and why seeing an adviser is a good idea. I’d also like to see the digital advice space offer a good service for both advisers to incorporate into their businesses and also to work outside our current advice model. I’d also like to see less legislation strangling the industry. And of course, I’d love to see greater diversity in the ranks of advisers. The FPA has just celebrated its 30 year anniversary and financial advice had started in earnest potentially 10 years prior but despite it being a job that is excellently performed by women as much as men there is still only around 20% of all advisers are women. This is disappointingly low. Conexus has recently acquired the Stella Network from BT Financial Group and we’ll be looking at new ideas to encourage and support more female financial advisers in the coming year. Watch this space!

What makes a good story?

For me a good story always involves people. For me I like to read about the impact people make or the impact made on people by actions taken. Of course, you need to tell a story – have a beginning, middle, end, or problem trying to solve, solution and result. And you need to cover the basics – who, what, why, when, where and how.

What advice would you give to executives when they are talking to the media?

I think, like in life, honesty is the best policy. Tell a story as straight as you can because people always find things out in the end. If they find that you are being dishonest or deceiving them, the trust will evaporate and it will be hard to gain it again. Bad things happen in all businesses but facing up to them and moving on without denials will win you respect in the long run. We’ve seen how Scott Morrison went as far as he could denying culpability for things – eventually it all catches up. And I believe everyone goes through hard times, when you’ve built good relationships – and that includes the media, you are more likely to get a sympathetic hearing to tell your side of things. Also, it’s a small industry and wherever you are – whether in business or in the media you’re likely to run into each other again. All you have to take with you is your reputation – make it one you’re comfortable with.

A bit more on Julia Newbould

Julia is an editor, journalist and author, with over 20 years’ experience writing for leading financial consumer and trade publications.

She was editor of industry publications Super Review and then IFA, and headed Morningstar media, between 2000 and 2010, before joining BT Financial Group as senior marketing and communications specialist.  While at BT, she co-founded and was head of The Stella Network, an inclusive female network formed to increase the number of females working as financial advisers.

In 2019 Julia returned to journalism as managing editor of Money Magazine, and joined Conexus Financial as managing editor in early 2022.

In 2020, she co-authored The Joy of Money with Kate McCallum to help women better understand how to manage their finances.

Catch Julia on LinkedIn