
Deep Dive · SOS25
Lia Walsh
Vertical Video Journalist · Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Lia Walsh makes tiktoks, award-winning ones.
In 2024 Lia was sent to the US presidential election as the ABC’s first “tiktok correspondent”. She was the first ABC journalist to head overseas tasked solely with creating social media videos.
Being in such an experimental space, Lia knew she had to lock in. She spoke to Trump haters selling Trump merch because of how lucrative it was, she got amongst rowdy political university debates attended by hundreds, joined Aussie-expat families walking their kids to school, wrangled an invite to the official Harris election event and even ended up at a frat party to talk directly with young voters.
After two weeks of self-shooting stories in the day and editing them together in the night, Lia headed home with 8 million views under her belt and a video series that would go on to win an innovation award at the prestigious mid-year Walkleys event.
Lia is a one-stop-shop journalist who has made waves in the industry through scripting, presenting and editing her own work. After starting out as a multiplatform reporter in the ABC’s Brisbane newsroom, Lia has spent the last three years presenting daily videos for the ABC’s national TikTok and Instagram accounts. Along with countless flops, Lia has amassed more than 100 million views on TikTok alone.
But it’s not all about short-form video! Alongside her US election series, some of Lia’s most notable work includes a 40-minute Youtube documentary looking into Australia’s youngest catholic priests.
The details · SOS25
Welcome to your flop era: how tragic views should rock your world
| Format | Deep Dive |
| Day | Wednesday 27 August |
| Time | 2.45 to 3.45PM |
| Room | RVR3 |
| Recap | SOS25 archive |
About the session
How did ABC journalist Lia Walsh go from flop to 100 million TikTok views? How does she use social media as a learning tool that gives her a competitive storytelling advantage? And how can you use social media as a report card to transform your understanding of and connection with audiences?
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