About 7am

7am is a daily news podcast from Schwartz Media and The Saturday Paper. It tells the news through in-depth interviews and sharp analysis.

Hosted by award-winning journalists Ruby Jones and Daniel James, 7am is a smart, strong, character-driven account of the big story of the day: the background, who’s involved, and why it matters. This is news with narrative, every weekday.

Ruby Jones, host and executive producer

Ruby Jones is an investigative journalist and documentary host who has worked across Australia. She’s reported several television and audio documentaries at the ABC, and has hosted 7am since 2020. She has received two Walkley Award nominations, as well as a recent Quill Award and was a previous Marchbanks Young Journalist of the Year. Her first non-fiction book Barrenjoey Road was released in 2021.

Daniel James, host and executive producer

Daniel James is a Yorta Yorta man and award-winning writer and broadcaster. James was the recipient of the prestigious Horne Prize for his essay “Ten More Days”. He is a contributor to The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, IndigenousX, SBS, Crikey, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He also hosts The Mission on 3RRRFM.

He recently wrote and reported the 7am series This is Alice Springs. Last year, he hosted 7am’s coverage in the lead-up to the Voice referendum, speaking with major players from both sides of the Voice debate.

Sarah McVeigh, head of audio and editor

Sarah McVeigh is an award-winning producer with a focus on new show development. Resistance, a show she co-created while at Gimlet Media, was named as one of the best podcasts of the year by The New Yorker, The New York Times and Vogue and recognised for excellence in trauma reporting by the DART Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. She was also a founding producer on New York magazine’s podcast The Cut On Tuesdays, where she reported and produced stories from across North America. She also created, reported and hosted the ABC podcast How Do You Sleep At Night? and reported from across Australia for triple j’s Hack. At Schwartz Media, she has executive produced Rupert: the last Mogul, co-created Read This and is currently the editor of 7am.

Chris Dengate, associate editor

Chris Dengate is an award winning producer and journalist. He was previously at ABC News where he was a founding producer on their flagship daily news podcasts ABC News Daily and The Signal, where he produced narrative news stories from across Australia. He won an NT Media award for producing The Gap, a short podcast series on Indigenous disadvantage in the NT. Previous to that, he was a producer and presenter on ABC NewsRadio delivering breaking news and current affairs coverage.

Cheyne Anderson, senior producer

Cheyne Anderson is a senior producer and journalist specialising in long form narrative. Her work on Triple J climate podcast Who’s Gonna Save Us? won a 2023 Covering Climate Now award. She produced two seasons of the Eureka Prize winning Patient Zero for ABC Science. Her work as a producer and reporter can also be heard on Sirens are Coming, The Eleventh, Full Story, Earshot, Days Like These and This is About. At Schwartz Media, she produced This is Alice Springs and Rupert: the last mogul. Bylines in The Guardian and The Saturday Paper.

Dr Atticus Bastow, technical producer

Atticus Bastow is an artist and sound technician. His work explores spatial and placial perception, and has been featured at MONA FOMA, NGV Australia, the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, and Liquid Architecture. He was previously a co-creator/host for the documentary podcast series Behind The Belt, developed for the ABC, and holds a PhD in Sonic Arts from RMIT University.

Zoltan Fecso, producer

Zoltan is a musician, composer and artist. His work with sound and the philosophies of listening have seen him invited to perform nationally and overseas. His compositions can be heard on Schwartz Media podcasts Read This, Rupert: The Last Mogul, 7am: The Great Housing Disaster and 7am: This is Alice Springs. He can be found performing, DJing or cooking in Melbourne’s finest establishments regularly.

Travis Evans, engineer

Travis Evans is an award-winning audio producer and electronic musician with a background in broadcast media. He has worked in audio production at SCA, Nova Entertainment, and most recently as Double J’s Audio Creative Lead at the ABC. His work in electronic music has taken him across Australia and Europe.

Erik Jensen, editor-in-chief

Erik Jensen is the editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media. He is the founding editor of The Saturday Paper. Erik has won the Walkley Award for Young Print Journalist of the Year and the United Nations Association of Australia's Media Peace Award. He has written for film and television and is the author of Acute Misfortune, On Kate Jennings and the poetry collection I Said The Sea Was Folded.