Stephen Smiley

Executive Producer, triple j Hack

Hi, I’m a journalist working on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia. I have 14 years of experience as an editorial leader, executive producer, reporter and presenter, covering current affairs, culture and investigations. Right now, I’m the executive producer of Australia’s flagship youth current affairs show, Hack on triple j. Previously, I was the supervising producer of The World Today program on ABC Radio, and in 2022 I launched the ABC News Daily podcast.

I spent 2019 and 2020 in London as a producer at Associated Press, scripting, editing and fact-checking video features. I also worked as a contributor to The Guardian, where I compiled a weekday newsletter. Prior to that, I co-hosted The Signal podcast, the ABC’s first daily news podcast, and also worked as a reporter for AM, RN Breakfast, The World Today and PM on ABC Radio. I spent three years as the state political reporter for the ABC in Tasmania; eight months reporting from the Queensland outback, based in Mount Isa; and a year training in the ABC’s cadetship program, based in Adelaide.

Between 2015 and 2017 I lived in New York, where I completed a Masters degree in political reporting at the Columbia Journalism School and was awarded Best Thesis. In 2017, I worked at Columbia as a postgraduate journalism fellow, co-authoring a prize-winning investigation for ProPublica, writing about the American school system for Slate, and producing a podcast for The Atlantic.