The Assembly Season 2 review: autistic journalism students shine – but the career sucks

’21 autistic journalism students are about to interview one of Australia’s most famous faces.’ That’s the opening line of Season 2 of The Assembly; it’s also as good a summary of the show as you could ask for. Autistic journalists, famous faces: put them together under the spotlight and you’ve got a show.

After the success of the Season 1, Australia’s only Autism friendly journalism foundations course has expanded, bringing in students from all across the country. Some of the students from that first season have returned in behind-the-camera roles; Leigh Sales is also back as the mentor, guiding the new crop of students through the challenges of television production.

The students are nervous and excited, eagerly rummaging through the life and background of their subjects for questions. Some tie things back to their own interests – Richard Roxburgh is the first subject, and Moulin Rouge is clearly a favourite – while others take more of a big picture look.

Teen Willow (who describes herself as ‘buzzy’) and musical Soph (who largely communicates through her devices) are early stand-outs. Stand-up performer Oliver has a family tradition of journalism to tap into and thinks ‘journalists are gods’ (steady on there).

The Assembly: familiar faces

The hook with the interviews is getting to see familiar faces asked unfamiliar questions. At a time where celebrity journalism is increasingly about using brief red carpet moments to ask startling questions in the hope of going viral, seeing the guests here (later episodes feature Guy Sebastian, Ray Martin, Julia Morris, Steve Waugh – who is informed that one questioner finds cricket ‘boring’ – and Maggie Beer) having the time to give thoughtful answers to interesting questions is justification alone for this series.

There’s a lighter side to the chats as well. Roxburgh revives the campy voice he used in Moulin Rogue, and the interviewers try to stump him with a Shakespeare quiz towards the end (he’s a bit nervous – as he says, after he does a play he ‘erases the hard drive’ as far as his lines go).

As with the first season, the interview subjects are safe pairs of hands; nobody’s going to be storming out over a too-probing question here.

The Assembly: grim prospects

The original version of The Assembly took viewers behind the scenes at French newspaper Le Papotin, which is produced by Autistic journalists. By focusing on television, the Australian version has its advantages. It brings Autistic voices into the mainstream and gives them a chance to speak to a wide audience. But it does leave the career side of things in a shaky position.

The kind of well-resourced, time-rich process leading to a big celebrity interview that we see here is rare in the local media for a number of reasons. A big one is that journalism in Australia has been shrinking for decades, both in size and in resources.

The career opportunities even for entry level jobs are grim; as the previous generation ages out the industry is rapidly moving towards a business model where everyone not in a core job (that would be sports reporting) will be expected to make do on freelance rates that assume employees are working multiple gigs to make ends meet.

While it’s a tough business, there’s also the unspoken assumption with The Assembly that for whatever reason, the Australian media currently lacks working professionals who are on the spectrum. You don’t have to look far for examples that prove otherwise – though obviously a version of this show based around journalists who’d already established themselves in the traditional way would be a very different viewing experience.

The Assembly: interesting and insightful

As a series of interviews, The Assembly is interesting and insightful, with a range of engaging characters asking (and answering) the questions. As a training opportunity for journalism students, it’s first-rate.

The only problem is that journalism is increasingly a highly-stressful and badly paid job with poor career prospects and very few opportunities to do anything like the kind of interviews The Assembly puts to air.

That’s not to say the members won’t go on to have successful futures in the media if they want. Simply being on The Assembly is a big leg-up; hopefully it won’t end up being the highlight of their career.

The Assembly Season 2 is broadcast weekly on the ABC Sundays at 7.30pm, with all episodes available to stream on iview.

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