Where to Get the Full Story
By Shaun D. Wilson
Australia is starting to bubble up a bit as it heads towards holding a referendum on whether an Indigenous Voice to Parliament should be written into the constitution. It's an issue many within Australia still have to grapple with, and if you're living elsewhere you likely haven't heard much about the Voice.
If you'd like to understand the ins and outs of this key issue and others like it, you could do a lot worse - I promise you there are a plethora of dodgy options than The Guardian's Full Story podcast's in-depth coverage.
The British-owned Guardian media company was one of the early pod pioneers among the newspapers venturing out into the audio realm (RIP to the long gone, but always great Music Weekly, I will treasure you forever).
In recent years, The Guardian has been trying to extend its global reach, and that has included an expansion in Australasian coverage.
A typical episode of Full Story sees main host, Jane Lee, assisted by an in-house reporter or two, looking at one issue.
Recent topics include cannabis legalisations, Tik Tok bans, social housing, and mortgage/financial issues. Exceptions include an interview with Liberal MP Julian Leeser about why he stepped down as shadow minister for Indigenous Australians over his party's decision to campaign against the Voice, and a longer than usual episode speaking to a number of immigrants and experts about the ever-changing demands Australian governments have made of those who would hope to make the lucky country their permanent home.
Where I feel let down, is how few swings the sound design takes when it sometimes feels like it really wants to!
For every episode that has something slightly surprising - like a low bass rumble somewhere far in the background - there will be three editions of Full Story where you'd be lucky to get a couple of quick clips to illustrate a point.
I think there are some creative minds at work on the edit who perhaps could be given room to take a few more risks in their quest to engage their audience.
Another small gripe is that at times the edit of a guest finishing what they have to say can be a bit rough, unfortunately taking away from the studied smoothness of much of the operation.
Full Story is an effective and extremely listenable deep dive translation of the breadth of Guardian Australia's news gathering operation.
While it doesn't have the energetic hustle and bustle of Triple J's Hack, or the concentrated focus of Schwartz's 7am; with Full Story, The Guardian has created an appealing daily news listen that neatly balances serious journalism with occasional moments of fun and informality.
Review Rating 3.5/5
Why not try some of the episodes of Full Story above, including the first episode of a four-part series about a Ukranian woman who escaped modern slavery.
