Page 58 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep 2021

58 FROM THE SOURCE KATHERINE ZIESING
SEPTEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
KATHERINE ZIESING
FORMER MANAGING EDITOR | AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE MAGAZINE
After 15 years with Yaffa Media, including three as ADM’s Managing Editor, Katherine Ziesing has headed into the sunset. Group Editor Ewen Levick spoke to her about her time with the magazine, Defence, government and Defence Industry over this period.
ADM: How will you look back at your 15 years at ADM? ZIESING: With great fondness I have to say. But first off, it is so strange being on the other end of an interview. I am usually the one asking the questions and I can see now why some people might find this uncomfortable!
ADM: If you think back to 2006 and forward through the years, what are you looking at in your mind’s eye? ZIESING: I’m picturing at the learning curve. I am looking at a young woman who walked through the door of Yaffa Publications and didn’t really have an interview so much as an hour-long chat with a publisher and then started two weeks later.
has made and expanding over the years has been fantastic. However you choose to consume your media, ADM has a channel that works for you.
ADM: Has the mission of ADM changed or expanded? ZIESING: I remember Judy Hinz, my predecessor/mentor, telling me that we aim to be the communication bridge be- tween Defence and industry. That’s how we serve the busi- ness of defence.
It comes down to access to timely information. You should be able to read an ADM cover to cover and learn at least one new thing. The more information you have,
I have travelled the world, I have travelled the country, I have learned so much about the most random topics that I would never have even contem- plated had I not been with a defence magazine. And through it all people have been incredibly generous with their knowledge and their experience. I feel truly honoured to have been given that opportunity.
ADM: How has ADM changed during your tenure?
ZIESING: Oh my goodness; so, so many things. On the technical front, when I first started everything was analogue, done on paper with hardcopies being shot up and down the east coast in express mail bags. Now we have com- pletely digital production systems.
PROFILE
2002 Copy Writer, Media Monitors (iSentia)
2004 Bachelor of Economics + Bachelor of Journalism,
University of Canberra
2006 Staff Writer, Yaffa Publications
2008 Editor, Australian Defence Magazine
2010 Masters of Strategy and Policy, UNSW@ADFA
2017 Defence Industry Study Course
2018 Managing Editor, Yaffa Media
2021 Strategy and Communications Lead, SME Gateway
the more complete a picture you can make. I would like to think that ADM helps a lot of readers; informing a more detailed picture of what their business can do, where they fit in, how they can find opportunities.
ADM: What is the role of journalism in Australia’s defence recapitalisation? ZIESING: That’s a twisty one. I think with any work in progress there come points where you’ve made a bigger mess than what you were actually given, and it is very nice to handle those points internally. That is not always possible. It is difficult to reform something like Defence. It’s large, complex, long run- ning, political and prone to empire building from within and without.
ADM was a traditional title when I first started; there was the magazine, tenders newsletter and the then Directory of Defence Supplies. We now have social media, we have the online stories, we have five conferences a year, we have two awards programs and the Directory has become the ex- panded Defence Industry Guide, a fully searchable online resource alongside the hard copy. We do podcasts and ADM Analysis reports and we now have an in-house videogra- pher for multimedia. The leaps and bounds that the brand
As a government Hansard/Senate Estimates/government reports nerd, I was very impressed with the First Principles Review. It was the most comprehensive reckoning of what Defence does andhowitdoesit,whyitisthewayitisandhowitneeds to change. Delivering on the scope and intent of that report takes a long time. It has been five or six years since that landmark document was made public and I would say we’re
CONTINUED ON PAGE 56