INDUSTRY PROFILES
Andrew Hornery - Media
Q.
Give us a snapshot of your career to date and an overview of your current role?
I am a senior journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald, part of the Fairfax Media group. I have been with the SMH for 24 years, and for the past 13 years I have written the Private Sydney columns, which appear in the weekend papers and online across the Fairfax network. I was raised in Tamworth and after completing my HSC I took up an offer of a cadetship at my local newspaper The Northern Daily Leader, where I spent three years learning the black arts of newspaper journalism.
In 1991 I moved to the big smoke and landed a job with News Ltd, but I was shipped out to the suburban papers and only lasted 3 months. I took a position on B&T magazine and recreated myself as a media and marketing writer, which was immense fun and took me around the world chasing the big stories of an industry in its pre-Internet heyday. In 1995 I joined the SMH as their marketing and media writer, but in 2001 made the move to a daily column called Spike which documented the movers and shakers of Sydney. In 2005 we launched Private Sydney.
In 1991 I moved to the big smoke and landed a job with News Ltd, but I was shipped out to the suburban papers and only lasted 3 months. I took a position on B&T magazine and recreated myself as a media and marketing writer, which was immense fun and took me around the world chasing the big stories of an industry in its pre-Internet heyday. In 1995 I joined the SMH as their marketing and media writer, but in 2001 made the move to a daily column called Spike which documented the movers and shakers of Sydney. In 2005 we launched Private Sydney.
Q.
What are you looking for from PRs – and what kind of pitch would get an immediate response?
I still believe that good public relations practitioners are the ones who establish relationships with people like me that go beyond a blanket email. Clearly PRs have an agenda which is fuelled by a specific client, but using that as your modus operandi seems short sighted. A good PR is one that makes themselves valuable, a source of information which can be used to create stories that are newsworthy rather than just promotional puff, which I try to avoid at ALL costs.
Q.
Do you prefer email or phone pitches, and what is the best time of day/day of the week to catch you?
Best time to get me is early in the week, if its a generic pitch then send me an email, if you have something hot and juicy to tell me, pick up the phone and talk. If you call me on deadline – which is usually Thursday and Friday, and you have nothing worthwhile to tell me, don’t expect a pleasant exchange. Time is of the essence, the field is extremely competitive and if I haven’t responded to your email, chances are I am not that interested.
Q.
During your career, what has your experience been like working with PRs?
Mixed. I am always very upfront with people. I am pretty old school about what I do and I believe my readers expect something which is informative and entertaining as well as creating a fairly true reflection of the life and times of our city. Product promotions do not necessarily fit that criteria, but getting access to parties, launches, people who are associated with a PR campaign can generate good stories, and that way, indirectly, I guess the PR gets exposure. Oddly now PR practitioners have become their own stories, though Im not sure how that computes with the products they are hired to promote, indeed I would argue that in some cases, their presence is a negative for their clients, but for me, those over the top characters are great copy.
Q.
Do you attend many media events and if so, what kind?
It all depends on the event, who is going to be there and what is happening in the news cycle at that point in time. Good PRs know the art of creating the right environment to get that happening. The promise of a beauty blogger at a shampoo launch might not seem that interesting, but if that beauty blogger is having an affair with a married billionaire, then I’m guaranteed to show up! I go to lots of parties, I have never become bored of them or jaded about it. I am naturally a social creature and do my best work embedded between a socialite and a champagne bar.
Q.
What do you love about your job?
I love discovering something that no one else knows and developing it into a narrative that becomes a story that people are talking about. I love that the subjects change constantly. I love that people are so unpredictable and I have the privilege of trying to capture that in my column.
Q.
What's the downside?
The constant hunt for the next big story, though that is also one of the fun bits unless its Thursday afternoon and I have nothing.
Q.
Describe a typical day:
I work from home a lot these days so I listen to radio and watch a bit of breakfast television while I go through social media to see whats been happening. As I have various deadlines throughout the week Ill start making calls to contacts about things I have have heard around the traps to guage people’s reactions and determine what is going ot make it as a yarn and what isn’t. Ill trawl everything from court lists to school presentations, you never know where a story will turn up.
Q.
If you weren't doing what you do now… what would you be doing?
Gardening and cooking, my two favourite hobbies.
Q.
Your Socials: