Mentoring for journalists, editors and media leaders
I'm Peter Brown. I've spent more than thirty years in journalism and media – reporting, editing, leading newsrooms and growing digital audiences. Mentorlism turns that experience into a straight conversation about what's in front of you now, and a practical way to work out where you're heading next.
01The reality
You're a great journalist. That's why you get promoted.
Then you're suddenly leading a newsroom, managing performance, reading audience data, sitting through restructures and making calls no one trained you for – while working out what you actually want from your own career.
This is a reality people find themselves in.
02How it works
It usually starts with whatever's on your mind today – a decision, a role you're weighing up, a restructure, a team. It rarely stops there. The useful conversations turn into where you're actually heading, and how you get there.
You don’t need to arrive with a tidy brief or a mentoring ‘objective’. We start with what’s actually on your mind.
The conversation might start with what’s happening today. It doesn’t have to end there.
We establish what you want from your career and the goals that will help get you there.
We look at where you are now, what the goal requires and what needs to happen next.
Clear priorities. Practical steps. Things you can actually do.
We come back to the goals, look at what’s changed and adjust the framework when we need to.
The goals are yours. My job is to help you clarify them, pressure-test the thinking and build something practical – not to hand you a formula.
03Who it's for
Mentorlism is for journalists at every stage of their career. The challenges change as you develop. The question underneath them doesn't: where do you want to go next?
Getting into journalism, finding your feet, building confidence and working out where you want to go.
Developing your craft and reputation, building digital and audience skills, and deciding what comes next.
Making the shift from doing great journalism to leading the people who do it.
Leading teams and other leaders, setting direction, managing change and building culture.
Decisions at organisational scale – transformation, strategy and developing senior people.
04Peter
I started as a journalist. I spent years as an editor. I led through journalism's shift to digital – building audiences, growing subscriptions and helping newsrooms work in ways the industry had never needed before.
What I do now comes out of all of it. I won't hand you a formula or tell you what to do. I'll listen, ask the questions worth asking, push back where it helps, and lend you the perspective of someone who has made these calls before. The decision stays yours.
Track record
In their words
“It’s difficult to put in words just how much you have done for me since our very first catch up almost two years ago. You helped me find confidence when I genuinely didn’t know where to look, but you’ve also spent so many hours listening to me. Instead of giving me the answers you’ve helped me find them within myself. You are an exceptional leader, how much you helped a young editor find her feet is just a small (albeit it very significant to me) part of that.”
05Insights
Career dissatisfaction among women in Australian media has climbed to a four-year high (59%), with 37% considering leaving their roles within 12 months. Pay pressure is now the No.1 reason for women to leave journalism (29%), while lack of growth (26%) and disengagement (16%) compound attrition risk. Mid-career female journalists are the most disillusioned (64%
Page 1 of Google is the Holy Grail for publishers, and every one is fighting to rank better on Google. It’s dominated by established news sites that have been publishing for more than three decades, improving their SEO optimisation techniques and strategies almost daily. It may seem like an impossible task to get your stories
Mentoring is an essential part of my life, woven into both my professional career and personal purpose and meaning. It’s more than just sharing knowledge or offering guidance — it’s a process that allows me to connect, uplift, and witness the transformation of individuals striving to achieve their goals. Over the years, I’ve discovered that
If you're thinking about your next role, becoming a better leader, navigating change or simply working out what comes next, let's talk.