Ballarat Courier - Rural Press Club of Victoria
Transcription
Ballarat Courier - Rural Press Club of Victoria
leading the community “ I’m not sure if you remember me. I was “Jane” that you did a story on for the It’s Up to Us campaign in which I am so incredibly grateful you did. How wonderful your article made front page in The Courier and congratulations on your award you so deeply deserve. You will never know the amazing impact in which you helped me on my road to rebuilding myself and my life again. For that alone I thank you so very, very much. – Victim, Jane. It’s Up To Us I T was up to us. There were two overriding factors which prompted The Courier to take a leading role in tackling the issue of family violence in the Ballarat community. Firstly, Ballarat was identified two years in succession as having one of the worst records of family violence in Victoria. Secondly, the horrendous death of a single mother in a central Ballarat house at the hands of a convicted sex offender. In June 2013, The Courier launched the It’s Up to Us campaign designed to create awareness and educate the community about family violence and to sign a pledge, in partnership with White Ribbon Australia, against violence. It began with an interview senior reporter Kim Quinlan conducted with Ballarat’s Citizen of the Year, Tony Lovett. Mr Lovett is a confessed abuser of women. The impact of this story and subsequent articles during the campaign - focussed on victims, the judicial system and the cultural challenges our society faces in regard to gender - has been immense. A series of lead stories in print were balanced by a unique online portal containing video, analysis and statistics to provide a space for community engagement. It also allowed readers to sign the pledge against violence. Less than six months after the launch of the It’s Up to Us portal, hundreds of readers had signed the pledge, with White Ribbon Australia experiencing a 16 per cent increase from local postcodes. Remarkably, instances of family violence have reduced in two consecutive Ballarat police district reporting periods. On White Ribbon Day, The Courier published a special edition recognised the broader community’s commitment to www. Part 1 the It’s Up To Us campaign, signified by a white ribbon running through pages of the edition - the first time the newspaper had undertaken such an unique approach to a campaign message. However, the campaign was also marked by the death of Ballarat mother Sharon Siermans, at the hands of a brutal parolee, Jason Dinsley, in a central Ballarat house. The death in many ways help define the resolve of the community to take a stand. Again, The Courier led the way, breaking the news that Dinsley’s parolee had been revoked two days before he killed Ms Siermans. After Dinsley was sentenced, The Courier published an exclusive print and video interviews with the parents of Ms Siermans, underlying the trust the community placed in only our reporters to tell an extremely horrific and sensitive story. LINK: http://www.thecourier.com. au/story/1986711/sharon-siermanslegacy-parents-call-for-tougherlaws/?cs=3223 This case is among those which have resulted in serious changes to legislation regarding parolees in Victoria. Not only did The Courier take a leading role through canvassing the issues in print and online, we took action. The Courier signed up to a pilot project – Act@Work – managed by social service organisation Grampians Womens Health, which educated staff members about family violence and what they could do to deal with issues in the workplace, at home or in the community through sessions held in The Courier office. STORIES, VIDEO: http://www.thecourier. com.au/its-up-to-us/ TWITTER: @itsuptous2013 .com.au leading the community “ It’s Up To Us Part 2 “ The support that The Courier (and its reporters) have given to the issue of prevention of violence against women is absolutely unprecedented and extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it. – Sonia Smith, Ballarat lawyer “ What The Courier has done – in a way that no other organisation or individual could, is bring to life and begin to normalise the understanding that the more sexism and gender inequality that exists in society, the higher the levels of violence against women we have. The Courier’s participation in and commitment to the WHG Act@Work project is a true act of leadership… of walking the talk! – Patty Kinnersly, chief executive officer, Grampians Womens Health I want to spend a moment acknowledging the role that the local paper has had in the Sharon Siermans case. I also acknowledge The Courier for launching the It’s Up to Us campaign, highlighting the prevalence of violence against women and challenging our community to become aware of its actions and behaviour with regard to the position of women in our community. – Ballarat MP Sharon Knight addressing State Parliament, August 21, 2013 www. .com.au Breaking news Fun House on Fire T he Plaster Fun House story was the most read multi-platform story for the year. Users were drawn to thecourier.com. au as smoke filled central Ballarat on a warm February evening, with the website recording 1500 pageviews each minute (site average around 120) at 9pm. The following day’s newspaper is the biggest selling Friday edition of the year thus far, exceeding the previous Friday by almost 900 copies. 5000 2500 4am 8am 12pm 4pm 8pm “ 1st version - 6pm. The first version of the story featured the most basic information which came to hand, less than 30 minutes since the fire began. With no photographer immediately available, a reporter went and took a photo on their phone, which accompanied the first version of the story. 2nd version - 6.45pm. A photo gallery of reader photos were sourced from Facebook and Twitter, as a large crowd gathered around the scene where firefighters were working. These photos were not of great quality, but served to give readers their “first look” at the fire scene. 3rd version - 7.30pm. Another Courier reporter, on their way home, managed to film about 10 seconds of footage from the early part of the fire. It took to 7.30pm before the video was able to be uploaded to the now-constantly evolving story page. 4th version and rolling updates - 8pm onwards. The Courier’s photographer managed to file pictures from the scene slowly throughout the night, making the photo gallery change from grainy reader photos to high quality dramatic shots of the firefight in action. Traffic spiked once these photos were published. More and more photos were published until about 9.30pm. SOCIAL MEDIA @ballaratcourier Using the power of The Courier’s 11,000-strong Facebook community, news, images and video from the scene spread across social media, reaching tens of thousands of readers. Post one “ Seventy-five per cent of all Facebooksourced visitors to the site on February 6 “landed” on Plaster Fun House-related stories. HOW WE BROKE THE NEWS http://www.thecourier.com.au/ story/2071960/ballarat-plaster-fun-houseburns-down/ It’s one thing to publish updated content, it’s another to let people know that it’s there. Seventy-five per cent of all Facebooksourced visitors to the site on February 6 “landed” on Plaster Fun House-related stories. The Courier posted five times about the fire during the night - all with links back to our Post two Post three Post four story - and all reaching thousands of people. There were also numerous Twitter postings throughout the night, but these gathered much smaller audiences than the Facebook posts. THE FACEBOOK POSTS https://www.facebook.com/ballaratcourier Using the power of The Courier’s 11,000-strong Facebook community, news, images and video from the scene spread across social media, reaching tens of thousands of readers. Post one: The first post reflected the immediacy of the situation and displays a photo taken early by a reporter. It reached 22,680 people and had 159 shares, 59 comments and 65 likes. Post two: The second post featured a story update and the addition of video footage. It reached 9,432 people with 30 shares, 10 comments and 32 likes. Post three: The third post linked to the updated story and the now-growing reader photo gallery. This highlighted to readers that their photos were not being wasted and they could also see what shots other people took. It reached 8,332 people with 16 shares, 18 comments and 35 likes. Post four: The fourth post displays the first of The Courier’s photographer’s photos, drawing readers to the same story which, by this stage, was a mix between the photographer’s photos and reader photos. It reached 15,256 people, had 66 shares, 22 comments and 93 likes. Post five: The final post was a little later but proved that the audience’s appetite for the story hadn’t waned. It featured a full photo gallery from The Courier’s photographer and pushed forward the message that there were more photos of the scene available that they might not have seen in earlier postings. It reached 20,528 people with 110 shares, 51 comments and 157 likes. Post five www. .com.au Breaking news Another brick in the hall B “ The live blog recorded more than 4000 pageviews and 3000 unique browsers on the night of the meeting - the most successful in our website’s history. allarat’s Civic Hall was constructed as a community facility in the mid1950s. For more than decade the facility has been unused. Boarded up to restrict entry to this major CBD site, proposals to redevelop the site - including reuse or demolition of the existing hall have been ravaged by controversy. Multiple plans have come and gone during the past decade, including a doomed proposal from Ballarat City Council to construct a $40 million municipal facility on the site in 2010 which has voted down after concerted protests from Ballarat ratepayers. In September 2013, the council considered a new resolution to demolish the hall. Hundreds of Ballarat residents converged on Ballarat Town Hall on Wednesday, September 25, to consider the new resolution. Before the meeting, those against demolition sang songs of protest. Late, inside the meeting, more than 50 residents addressed the council meeting expressing their views for, and the majority against, demolition. The meeting went for almost seven hours, ending at 2am on Thursday morning, with the council voting six to three in favour of demolition. The Courier covered the meeting online with a rolling blog which included updates from two reporters - Rachel Afflick and Tom Cowie - and photographer Adam Trafford from the Town Hall. These staff filed regular updates using mobile technology filed through to News Director Andrew Ramadge who managed the blog in The Courier office. Reporters also provided updates through Twitter and Facebook - providing multi-platform access to updates for our reporters. www. Content also included video of the protester’s songs, video interview and images which were delivered via the online blog. The News Director cultivated this content as it happened, also including reader comments and social media interaction from residents inside the meeting. The blog provided interaction and informative coverage for residents unable to attend the meeting and ensured our readers gained a sense of the emotional nature of the meeting. Our reporters and photographers stayed until the conclusion of the meeting, the blog wrapping up right at 2am. Stories and photographs were then compiled for the print edition, providing the added detail and depth for readers. Despite well exceeding our nightly print deadline, we worked with our print site to ensure the print edition hit newsagents in a time frame as to not impact sales. A controversial and noteworthy front page, depicting the mayor on a wrecking ball on the Civic Hall site had been produced in advance in anticipation of the decision, ensuring the coverage had maximum impact. The Thursday print edition was one of the best sellers of the year. Controversy continued to dog the council following the Civic Hall decision with allegations Mayor John Burt and Liberal Premier Denis Napthine were involved in influencing the outcome of the Ballarat mayoral election. Cr Burt resigned in May, confirming he was behind meetings to fix the mayoral appointment of fellow Liberal Party member Joshua Morris. LINK: http://www.thecourier.com.au/ story/1801473/as-it-happened-ballaratcity-council-decides-fate-of-civic-hall/ .com.au ISSUES IN DEPTH Ice “ I’m not sure if you remember me. I was “Jane” that you did a story on for the It’s Up to Us campaign in which I am so incredibly grateful you did. How wonderful your article made front page in The Courier and congratulations on your award you so deeply deserve. You will never know the amazing impact in which you helped me on my road to rebuilding myself and my life again. For that alone I thank you so very, very much. – Victim, Jane. “ L IKE heroin, only cheaper. Methamphetamine, or ice as it is known on the streets, has taken hold in regional Victorian cities such as Ballarat. Drug-related offences in the April quarter, according to official police statistics, is up 82 per cent - http://www.thecourier.com. au/story/2313915/rising-crimestats-highlight-ballarats-icescourge/ The Courier has been at the forefront of identifying this scourge on the local community but also educating the community on its impact. In a special report on November 16, The Courier went inside the lives of those impacted by ice, exploring the impact the drug had on the individuals, family members and the Ballarat community. It was an unique exploration which added depth of understanding to an otherwise black and white issue. The report added to a groundswell of public comment, amid a State Government establishing an inquiry – headed by Ballarat-based MP Simon Ramsay - into the prevalence and influence the drug is having on our communities. The committee is due to report to parliament later this year. The report added to a groundswell of public comment, amid a State Government establishing an inquiry – headed by Ballaratbased MP Simon Ramsay - into the prevalence and influence the drug is having on our communities. “ There is no fear, it’s crept into football clubs, nightclubs and it’s not just underground, which was what we first thought. – Mental health worker Peter Treloar. www. .com.au