Journalist Spotlight | Interview with Jocelyn Garcia, Culture and Youth Affairs Reporter for The Brisbane Times

Today, Medianet is joined by Culture and Youth Affairs Reporter for the Brisbane Times, Jocelyn Garcia. Here, Jocelyn shares her experiences, from a Cadet Journalist for a regional newspaper to how she came to her current role covering culture in Brisbane.  

Can you tell me a bit about your initial experience as a journalist and what led you to your role covering culture and youth affairs for The Brisbane Times? 

I did various internships while I was at university in radio, content creation, magazines and newspapers but my first full-time job was working as a cadet for Beaudesert Times. I was there for over one year. It was hard work - there were just two of us on deck, which meant reporting on six stories a day for the website, social media platforms and print. It was extremely hands-on and I had to cover everything from crashes to feature stories on dairy farmers. I began working for Brisbane Times about five years ago, covering breaking news, crime and a bit of culture on the side. It wasn't until last year when I decided I wanted a change of scenery, so I was fortunate enough to pick up the culture and youth affairs round as part of the Brisbane Times' expansion.

Brisbane is an incredibly diverse city. How has your cultural background informed your coverage of this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural space? 

I was born in Australia but grew up very Latin, speaking Spanish before learning English at school, eating different food from my friends and having multiple cultures to balance - my parents are from Cuba and Chile. It means I look at stories sometimes from a different angle, especially on issues such as visas and immigration laws. I think it's easy to forget that we are a very multicultural city so I also aim to bring multi-ethnic and multi-cultural spaces to the forefront in the media. I also recently joined Nine's cultural diversity content group so I hope to contribute more to changing perceptions.

Culture is a very loaded term, politically and socially. How has culture coverage changed or evolved throughout your career? 

Brisbane has vastly evolved over the years. It's so exciting to see. I remember a time where everyone would say Brisbane was boring compared to Sydney and Melbourne. This isn't the case anymore. The performing arts and hospitality industry has boomed, especially post-covid. There seems to be a hunger to do and be better. Last year's Brisbane Festival is a perfect example of this.

In terms of current practices in culture reporting, I still would like to see more diverse faces and backgrounds in stories as well as more female voices.

Is there any upcoming work from you or The Brisbane Times that we should keep an eye out for?

Everything! Since our Brisbane Times relaunch, we now have listicles for what's on in Brisbane and stories on big events of the year. As well as writing culture and youth affairs, I'm also working on a few stories for the national Campus series that is aimed at helping students who are entering tertiary studies so if you have a family member who might need some guidance, that's where you can find it.

What stories and/or perspectives are you most interested in hearing more about?

I'm interested in hearing about personal, untold stories.

And lastly, what do you look for in content pitching?

For those pitching me content, please email over calling, have a good snappy subject line and try to provide Queensland or hyperlocal interviewees. Every now and then, we get people pitching stories and asking about having something printed in the newspaper when in fact, we are a digital platform. Please do your research!