Lisa Davies has spent more than two decades at the heart of Australian journalism — leading some of the country’s most trusted institutions through moments of immense pressure, change, and scrutiny.
From a childhood spent moving between remote Australia and regional centres, to a formative moment watching The Moonlight State in a university lecture theatre — a moment that sparked a lifelong belief in the power of journalism to expose, inform, and hold power to account — Davies has built a career defined by curiosity, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to public-interest reporting.
Starting out at Australian Associated Press, she covered crime and courts at News Corp’s Daily Telegraph for seven years and then moved to The Sydney Morning Herald, eventually becoming Editor of the Herald, where she navigated both the weight of its 190-year legacy and the realities of a rapidly shifting media landscape. Later, as CEO of AAP, she took on one of the toughest mandates in media: ensuring the survival of a national institution in a structurally challenged industry.
But what stands out about Davies isn’t just the roles she’s held — it’s how she’s led through them. With a strong focus on trust, transparency, and people, she brings a leadership style grounded not only in decision-making, but in empathy, communication, and showing up when it matters most.
In this Close-Up, we talk about the stories that have stayed with her — from global headlines to deeply personal moments — what it really takes to lead through uncertainty, why trust in media has never been more complex, and how she’s approaching this next chapter with curiosity and intention.
Where did you grow up, and what first drew you to journalism?
I moved around a little bit as a child; my father was an engineer so my family had stints in remote Western Australia, regional NSW and Victoria before settling in Brisbane for the bulk of my late primary/high school years. I don’t really remember the first time I locked onto the idea of becoming a journalist, but apparently when I was about 10 or 12 I started talking about wanting to “write stories” when I grew up. I’ve always loved being the first to tell somebody a piece of news, so I guess it was inevitable.
Was there a defining moment when you realised media — and storytelling — was where you wanted to build your career?
I vividly recall sitting in a darkened lecture theatre in my first year studying journalism at the University of Queensland, and our professor telling us we were going to watch ‘The Moonlight State’. This program was a seminal Four Corners episode from a decade earlier, exposing systemic police corruption and criminality in Queensland. I had goosebumps throughout and couldn’t believe what an earthquake this program had caused. The reporter was one of Australia’s greatest investigative journalists, Chris Masters – with whom I’ve been lucky to work with since, through his investigation with Nick McKenzie into Ben Roberts-Smith, and whose daughter coincidentally is one of my best friends!
While studying, I also worked on UQ’s journalism newspaper, The Weekend Independent, as chief sub-editor and reporter. I didn’t quite break a corruption scandal wide open like Masters, but I loved the thrill of trying to find things out others didn’t want you to know.
You’ve worked in some of Australia’s most trusted newsrooms. What were those early years like, and what did they teach you about the role of journalism in society?
I started my cadetship at Australian Associated Press (AAP) in 2001. I learned shorthand and was thrown at just about anything and everything over the 12 months, it was brilliant.
The 9/11 terrorism attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon occurred in that year, and while we were only reporting on the ramifications back here in Australia (on airlines, international travel, etc) that story taught me so much about being fast, being factual and the importance of approaching everything even-handedly. I remember AAP’s then-Editor-in-Chief Tony Vermeer sending out a note to the whole newsroom noting that news reporting would never be the same again, as it was one of the first major global events that was being covered in real-time, everyone accessing every detail via the internet and live-television. That note has really stayed with me.
Your time at The Sydney Morning Herald spanned a period of enormous change for media. What were some of the defining moments from that era, and how did they shape your approach as an editor and leader?
Being appointed editor of the SMH was an honour and a privilege; I learnt very quickly how high the stakes are when you are overseeing a publication that’s so important to so many people. I think probably two key events during my editorship shaped my experience like no others – one was that in my first three months, I had to help ensure approximately one-third of the Herald’s staff left the business as part of a voluntary redundancy program that would set the foundation for future growth. While it was an extremely difficult period, it was important to lead with honesty and kindness, give people the space to consider their decisions, help make departures as dignified as possible and inspire the remaining workforce to continue to do what our readers entrusted us to do. The other event, at the other end of my editorship, was leading celebrations of The Sydney Morning Herald’s 190th birthday. Very few newspapers worldwide have been continuously published for that long and it was gratifying to see it was still so trusted, loved and respected by its readers and the wider community. The lesson for me through these events was how important it is to maintain trust – because once it’s gone, especially in the fickle world of media, it’s very hard to get back.
You’ve moved from editorial leadership into CEO and transformation roles. How did your leadership style evolve along the way?
I think over the years, and most crucially going from being an Editor to a Chief Executive, my leadership style around decision-making has definitely morphed from one of pure gut instinct to a more considered approach. As an Editor, you often have to make split-second decisions, which is where gut instinct really comes into its own and I’m grateful mine has helped me make more right decisions than wrong ones! But when you’re running a company, you have more time, more stakeholders, more perspectives and possibly more options to consider – and you need to put the work in to choose. So while I might still have a strong gut instinct about which way to go, there is definitely more work required to ensure you’re making the best decision available.
You’ve spent your career in institutions built on public trust. What does “trust” in media mean to you today, and has that definition changed?
Trust is built on the belief that a media organisation is genuinely acting in the public interest by producing information that’s accurate, fair, independent, transparent and accountable. To me, trust is core to everything. If the audience doesn’t trust what they’re reading or consuming, they won’t pay for it, they will treat the information they’re consuming less seriously, and they won’t come back.
I don’t think my definition of it has changed over my 25 years in journalism, but it’s worth noting that many audiences no longer define a trusted outlet as one that’s unbiased or non-partisan. Increasingly, some see trust as less about the absence of a point of view, or an agenda, and more about whether audiences can see that the journalism is fact-based, fair-minded, transparent and accountable. In the years ahead, the focus will be on helping audiences make more informed decisions — understanding how and why agendas come into play, and how facts can be distorted or selectively used to suit a perspective, rather than allowed to speak for themselves.
Stepping into AAP at such a critical time, what was the biggest challenge you faced, and what did that experience teach you about resilience and reinvention?
I came into the role as AAP chief executive with one KPI for the organisation front of mind – survival. Many with knowledge of the organisation told me it might not be possible to save it in the long run because it faced such significant structural challenges – in a shrinking media market, where the biggest players want exclusive content, a wholesale provider had decreasing value. This is the case the world over with the ‘newswire’ model. The challenge was to make everyone from its subscribers to its providers, to its funders (public and private) and even its staff – realise its importance and fight for it.
Resilience and reinvention are key ingredients to any organisation’s success but you have to approach them holistically. By that I mean, for example, there’s no point reinventing part of the business if the rest of it doesn’t change and adapt accordingly. And financial resilience means nothing if the organisation isn’t aware of its value proposition, and how quickly it can be taken away.
You’ve led organisations through financial pressure and structural change. What’s the hardest part of transformation that people often underestimate?
Transformation has to involve every facet of the organisation. I’ve seen many examples over the years where certain departments or individuals have thought they didn’t need to change; that they were unaffected and could carry on blindly because nobody was complaining or nothing was broken. This isn’t true. Even if you’re in a well-functioning part of a business that might be holding up other parts of it, transformation is key to understanding where you can add greater value, how you work with your colleagues more efficiently or be of greater service to the whole mission.
In periods of change, what have you learned about bringing people with you, especially when uncertainty is high?
It comes back to that trust piece – leadership has to be trusted. You have to explain, sometimes ad nauseum, to ensure people understand the reasons why you’re taking the road you are. I have learned this lesson the hard way; feeling sometimes as though I’ve said things so many times of course they know – but people don’t always listen, and aren’t always engaged to the extent you are.
But once they understand, teams then have to trust that you can deliver. This is often achieved only by little successes, all adding up – doing what you say you’re going to do at both macro and micro levels.
Uncertainty can also be extremely destabilising for teams but bringing it back to the individual can help, in my experience. All any leader can ask of each employee is that they do their job to the best of their ability and try to block out the fear. No one person can control any outcome so individuals must just try to focus on what’s within their own control, and often that’s as simple as just doing their jobs.
You’ve worked closely with boards on strategy and risk. What separates organisations that navigate disruption well from those that struggle?
In my experience, Boards that understand the business deeply are better placed to navigate everything! One of the first things I learned about the difference between being a company’s executive and a director is the delineation of who is operationally in charge. Clearly, that sits with the executive team but it helps enormously if the Board understands the operations in great detail so they’re well placed to focus on the best strategic approach for all. They can only do that if they’ve taken an interest and understood how the business operates and its reason for being, before setting the strategy and understanding the risks.
In today’s environment, reputation can shift quickly. How should leaders think about protecting integrity while still evolving the business?
Every single decision made in a business can help make or break its reputation so leaders need to be vigilant about instilling a culture in which the whole organisation operates in line with its value proposition and strategic mission. If all decisions are taken in consideration of those guiding principles, they’re almost always defensible.
During times of change, leaders need to be brave – transformation is very rarely popular but it’s also inevitable so leading organisations through this period with clear and consistent communication is critical.
And finally, leaders at all levels should embrace opportunities to update and evolve the business, but also be clear about what is non-negotiable. This comes back to the value proposition and strategic mission. It helps build trust and also provides a platform to bolster reputation when external pressure is applied.
How do you see the role of independent and public-interest media evolving over the next five years?
Ten years ago, newspapers were almost dead. Yet they continue, with varying states of health. The same was said for books even before that. I think crystal-ball gazing isn’t always helpful but what I would say is that there must always be strong and vibrant public interest journalism in Australia – without it, our democratic system is under threat. That sounds dramatic but it’s true. Regardless of the existence of hard-copy newspapers, people will always want to consume information and find things out, so we have to work hard to ensure that the bulk of content available is factual, fair and impartial.
You’re known for a strong focus on people and culture. What does great leadership look like to you in practice, not just in theory?
Leadership roles are gruelling and exhausting. I’ve had days where I haven’t been sure how to tackle something and wanted to hide, but showing up through good days and bad is something people admire. I also learned from my mentors about how simple acts of kindness – from remembering somebody’s birthday, their kid’s name, or helping them through a personal issue that has nothing to do with work – should also be part of the job. But perhaps most importantly, I genuinely believe in being yourself and letting the best parts of you shine through. You can be a leader with a sense of humour, you can have moments of joviality or silliness – it doesn’t have to be all tough talk and decision making, all the time.
Every journalist has a few stories they’ll never forget, whether for the impact, the pressure, or what was happening behind the scenes. What stands out for you?
Wow, there’s so many. The Lindt Cafe siege was huge for its impact on Sydney, the Herald’s newsroom, my leadership journey and a very close friend of mine who lost his sister. The attack on Lauren Huxley, a young woman in western Sydney, led me to write a book with her dear family. I covered Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial in South Africa, which was a crime on a scale of global interest, and I had an incredible experience with an international media pack over many weeks. Political assassinations – the rolling of Tony Abbott and then Malcolm Turnbull – and also Trump’s 2016 US election victory were learning experiences for the deadline pressure and rolling coverage. The Black Summer bushfire crisis – the Herald’s leadership on climate change during this time is something I’m very proud of. I was also the Editor when the Herald and Age published the very first story of war crimes allegations against Ben Roberts-Smith. Supporting this and other examples of meticulous investigative reporting is something that will stay with me forever.
You’re now exploring NED and advisory roles. What’s energising you most about this next chapter? And looking back, what are you most proud of?
I’ve had an incredible opportunity over the last nine months to take a “strategic reset” – or as I jokingly call it, my adult gap year – which has been both relaxing and nourishing. As I look towards what this next chapter of life looks like, I think I’m most energised by the possibilities ahead – whether they be work, life, travel or other pursuits. I have learned a lot about myself over the last few months, in particular about the life I want to create for the remainder of my working life. In terms of what I’m most proud of – I think leading with authenticity is something that’s often hard for women in senior roles, and I hope I’ve set an example to many others of how to do that.
What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?
That I have taken up doing sprint triathlons in the past couple of years! A sprint is half the length of a standard triathlon, and in the past 14 months I’ve done five. I really enjoy the challenge of training and improving my times. It’s also a great excuse to explore the natural world – we are so lucky to have such beautiful national parks and beaches to exercise. Makes it even more worthwhile!