Friend,

If you want to break into the news cycle right now, forget thought leadership. Stories cutting through usually have baddies and those they hurt, a hypocrisy angle, or a direct hit to the wallet.

Right now, the Australian public - and even the finance media - care only about war, our wallets, and courtroom reckoning.

What this means for you as a client and your commentary or media/PR work is simple.

Make it relevant to war, the energy crisis, or household hip-pocket pain, or make it a story with a villain, a victim, and (ideally) a scandal.

I spend a lot of time analysing what Australians are reading across news outlets, search, and socials. It doesn't fill me with joy, but it reminds me that while we don’t really have tabloids anymore, we are still tabloid in our readership.

We’re driven by survival, self-interest, conflict, and scandal. As a result Australian media's attention is on war, scandal, cost-of-living pain, migration, royals and courtroom reckoning.

“Our own pain. Someone to blame. Someone to feel sorry for. Someone caught out.”

You can see it in the AFR too. Even the business and finance crowd is getting prominent, rolling coverage of Iran, oil, markets and the US spillover, effectively around the clock, because that’s what readers care about.

Once war showed up in fuel prices, airfares, inflation risk and portfolios, it stopped being foreign news and started being personally relevant at work and home for most of us.

The stories cutting through are obvious enough:

1. Ben Roberts-Smith

2. Fuel pain

3. Qantas and Hormuz

4. Migration dog-whistling

5. Lehrmann finality

6. Harry and Meghan... lighter, but irresistible because everyone already has an opinion.

So, what does that mean for you as a client trying to get into commentary?

1. Understand what the media want. Invest 80-90% of your thinking here.

They want conflict, consequence, relevance and a clean line to the audience.

2. Work out how to get “your” 10-20% (message) into the media’s 80%.

Connect what you want to talk about to what media are already talking about. Even in finance it helps to think about where there's fear, greed (you know this already), pain, anger or other BIG emotion.

3. Have a point of view. Ideally a real one.

Beige disappears.

Yes, this is all a bit tabloid, but it's just how it is right now.

Finally, and I don’t need to say this, because it’s basic: be timely and relevant. Offer an immediate POV (if you can) and link it to what’s happening right now for the audience.

That’s it.

Hit reply with a mark out of 10 and if you can, a word or two of inspo for my next email.

Best,

Carden | she/her (here’s why that matters @work)

On our radar:

The other big story this week

Trump-ordered naval blockade sends energy prices surging 

Following a stalemate in peace talks over the weekend, US President Donald Trump has ordered a naval blockade of all ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz to enter or depart from Iranian ports. Any ships paying Iran’s toll for a clear strait would also be intercepted. In response, prices surged, with Brent Crude rallying to $US104 a barrel, and European gas futures up nearly 18 per cent.

Economists warn of recession if blockade intensifies 

As energy and fuel prices surged following the announcement of an American blockade on ships departing and entering Iranian ports, economists warn of the threat of recession with domino effects worldwide. Fears of demand destruction being triggered in Europe and Asia risk tipping countries like the UK into recession, a concern shared globally where energy supplies are already dwindling.

Fuel costs extend impact to domestic Qantas flights 

Qantas has announced that higher international airfares and cuts to domestic flights will be implemented to partially offset the rising costs of oil and closures to critical air corridors. Its fuel bill for the six months to June 2026 is now expected to sit between $3.1 billion and $3.3 billion, up to $800 million higher than previously projected.

Get to know your journo

This week's market movers

Big plays, bold bets, and (occasional) unconfirmed speculation

Over-hiring to blame for lay-offs, not AI – Zeller founder Ben Pfisterer claims that tech sector giants are making huge lay-offs under the guise of AI but asserts that the blame lies with post-pandemic over-hiring.

Hungarian voters eject Orban and reject Trump – Peter Magyar has been elected Prime Minister of Hungary, ending 16 years of Viktor Orban’s regime and close allyship with Trump and Putin just days after Vice President Vance visited with defence and trade contracts.

Australia's role in a potential solar future – Amidst uncertain energy markets, the expectation that solar power will overtake coal as the world’s leading electricity provider is attributed to Australian inventor Martin Green and his work to commercialise the energy source.