Background Briefing

ABC listen
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May 30, 2025 • 21min

Long Read | Australia: burnout capital, or how to get a career break right

This week, Annie Louey discovers what happens when your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing means your career is no longer worth the money.
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May 24, 2025 • 37min

05 Agents of Influence | The letters journalists fear

There’s something shaping what appears in your newsfeed that you might not be aware of. Reporter Gina McKeon investigates.
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May 16, 2025 • 37min

04 Agents of Influence | The powerbroker unseated by ‘traitors’

This week, reporter Annika Blau  gets the inside story of a union powerbroker’s rise, and the people who risked it all to stop her
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May 9, 2025 • 42min

03 Agents of Influence | The man whose name is all over Sydney

Take a stroll around Sydney and you'll find his name on many venerated buildings. But this man, a 101-year-old billionaire, has also created machines that risk ruining their users' lives.
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May 2, 2025 • 42min

02 Agents of Influence | The Billionaire's New Sport

A former oil tycoon has just bought the streaming rights to Australia’s great homegrown sports, the AFL and NRL. This week, reporter Marty Smiley investigates one of the richest men in the world - who is Len Blavatnik? 
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10 snips
Apr 17, 2025 • 36min

01 Agents of Influence | The PM's secret strategists

Tynan King, a savvy reporter, dives into the world of online content creators and their surprising influence on Australian politics. She reveals how millennial influencers are shifting political engagement from traditional media to social platforms, resonating with younger voters. King highlights strategic moves in political campaigns, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and undisclosed relationships between politicians and content creators. Additionally, she examines ethical concerns surrounding media companies and their role in shaping political narratives.
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Apr 16, 2025 • 37sec

Introducing... Agents of Influence

They're not household names. But they wield serious power under the radar.
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Apr 11, 2025 • 22min

Long Read | How deepfakes, nudes and teen misogyny have changed growing up

This week, Bri Lee investigates tech-assisted gendered abuse by schoolboys against their peers and teachers. 
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Apr 4, 2025 • 21min

Long Read | The church’s disappearing women

Three decades after the first ordinations of women to the Anglican priesthood, women are still struggling to reach leadership — and now the congregation is changing too.
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Mar 13, 2025 • 41min

05 The Invisible Killer | Did police miss a murder?

A court found that Garry Davis injected three victims with lethal doses of insulin during a 48 hour period. But what if there was another victim? Is it possible police failed to collect crucial evidence to prove someone else had also been killed?

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