Spotlight on: Matilda Boseley
The 2019 Student Journalist of the Year on finding reporting so fun she “accidentally on purpose forgot to apply for Law”.
Winner of the Student Journalist of the Year category at the 2019 Walkley Young Australian Journalist Awards.
Matilda Boseley, Monash University, The Age and Mojo News, “‘I had no way of getting home’: Calls for changes to liquor laws,” “Grey Area: Let’s Talk About Rape” and “ZOE — Vegans Invade a Melbourne Slaughterhouse”
A strong body of work of three stories in different platforms saw Monash University student Matilda Boseley take out the 2019 Student Journalist of the Year Award.
The judges said: “Matilda Boseley demonstrates strong research, interviewing and writing skills in a body of work that exemplifies what makes student journalism powerful — young people investigating the issues they know affect their peers.”
We caught up with Matilda to find out about how she found her winning stories, how she found her way into journalism, and what she enjoys about reporting.
How did you find your winning stories?
All of my stories focus on young women. While they aren’t all women’s issues per se, they all focus on topics important to women in their late teens or twenties.
I found the story for my article “‘I had no way of getting home’: Calls for changes to liquor laws” when I was dragged along to a university end-of-year party. During the night, I watched young girls being ejected from the club for being too drunk, with no apparent effort to ensure they were safe. At the time, I assumed the club was breaking the law so began looking into it, only to find that in fact, there was no law at all.
My podcast “Grey Area” explores the line between consensual sex and rape. During high school and university, I had conversations with girls who were unsure if they had been sexually assaulted. You would think this would be cut and dried, but often the circumstances were very complex. My co-producer Andrea Thiis-Evensen and I were compelled to dive into those murky waters.
My short documentary “Zoe”, which follows a group of animal rights activists as they occupy a Victorian abattoir, came out of Instagram (the birthplace of all great journalism). I found profiles of young women posting photographs of themselves conducting illegal raids on farms and slaughterhouses which seemed either startlingly bold or unbelievably reckless — I had to find out more. Over time I was able to build trust and was invited to one of their protests. While there, it became clear that Zoe, the sheep liberated during one occupation, should be a central character.
What did it take to get these story up?
Given some of the subject matter I had to take care of my own emotional wellbeing. Making my documentary meant repeatedly watching hours of extremely graphic footage showing animals in extreme pain and distress. My podcast also involved listening to detailed descriptions of sexual assault.
It was difficult to find the line between pragmatic detachment and becoming numb to violence. This is a challenge I’m still facing in my first year out of university, having covered the violent murders of several young women, multiple terrorist attacks and other challenging stories.
What impact did your stories have?
My documentary was posted when awareness of the vegan activist movement was at an all-time high and the day after the country-wide protests that shut down Melbourne CBD and other sites around Australia. Filmed several months earlier, these events meant I was perfectly positioned to provide much needed context on who these activists were, and what they stood for. As expected, reactions to the film online were polarised, however, heated debate made for wide reach in social media.
What made you want to be a journalist?
I became a journalist really by accident. I was an Arts student hell-bent on transferring into Law, but in my third or fourth week my tutor (and later mentor) Corinna Hente encouraged me to become involved in the student publication, Mojo. I started having so much fun that I accidentally on purpose forgot to apply for Law.
The other thing that makes me want to be a reporter is that moment when someone starts speaking and you can just tell that this is the first time someone has really listened to them. While I’m not saving lives every day, it’s those stories where I feel I am making a difference.
What are you most proud of about the stories you’ve told?
I like that my stories ask uncomfortable questions. My article questions why some laws aren’t made with young women in mind. My podcast explores how we really don’t know what exactly constitutes consent. And, I hope, my documentary makes viewers confront why one sheep deserved to survive while the rest were killed. These are things that are generally easier not to think about, and that’s what draws me to them.
What’s your message to Australians about why quality journalism needs their support?
I have been lucky as an early career journalist, but looking around I feel that the opportunities for fresh faces and new voices are becoming more limited.
Without proper support for quality publications and in-depth journalism, where are our future Louise Milligans, Nick McKenzies, our Leigh Sales or Hedley Thomases going to train? And without voices like these, the quality of the Australian conversation is going to be so much poorer.
What’s the best thing about receiving this award?
Besides being honoured, humbled and extremely grateful, I was honestly just excited to have a Twitter post that got more than ten likes (@MatildaBoseley if anyone was wondering).
Matilda Boseley was the student editor of the Monash University online news site Mojo News, where she ran the news team and got the chance to learn how to report for print, podcasting, and video. She now works as a reporter and assistant chief of staff at Seven News Melbourne. Previously she has worked as a breaking news reporter at The Age. She has a particular interest in women’s health and safety and hopes to report on these issues throughout her career. She hopes to continue to have the opportunity to report across multiple platforms and develop her skills in each.
Follow Matilda on Twitter: @MatildaBoseley
The Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Award category All media: Student Journalist of the Year is supported by Macleay College.
The Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year Awards are supported by the Jibb Foundation.
