This is possibly the least enjoyable bit of writing I have ever done. Hmm.
Cheek: memories of a paedophile priest.
From The Great Southern Weekender. Thursday, March 9, 2017 p7.
Cheek: memories of a paedophile priest 9/3/2017
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Category Archives: Rural reporting
Is manufacturing the key to the region’s future? 20/10/2016
A local businessman came to me with this story idea many months before the paper changed style. The then editor told me not to proceed as we were not doing features of this type and it was not “hard news”.
Great Southern Weekender, October 20, 2016, pp 8 and 9.
After a change of management we were required to produce a two-page feature in every edition, and suddenly this story became newsworthy.
As a journalist it is important to be able to tailor your writing to a publication’s subject matter. There is no merit in producing work that does not get published.
NB: I did not write the side panel.
Councils talking rubbish 6/10/2016
I don’t often write headlines for my own stories, but this has to be my best ever.
The City of Albany and two neighbouring shires are working to solve their waste disposal problem.
This is a serious issue for all local governments.
From The Great Southern Weekender
Scientists move to protect killer whale feeding ground 8/9/2016
Owing to a change in format this is my first front page for three years – we had a single pic on the front page up until last week.
Anyhow please excuse me this indulgence – it is just a press release with an interview added, not original research. Continue reading
Authorities unlikely to get any fire restitution 11/8/2016
This is an example of a story lead changing right on deadline.
I had written about a judgement made against a young man who had started a bushfire and was ordered to pay a six-figure sum in damages.
I interviewed the fire control officer who was pleased with this result.
My editor had already put the story “on the page” when the man’s lawyer contacted me telling me his client could not be jailed for non-payment as it was a civil matter.
From The Great Southern Weekender Thursday, August 11, 2016.
Boat ramp vote is ‘vindication’ 28/7/2016
Denmark Shire in Western Australia has released a long-awaited feasibility study for a trailer-boat ramp.
From The Great Southern Weekender, Thursday July 28 2016 p 5
The council has voted not to proceed with the project. Continue reading
Angler vows to fight shark catch penalty
Featured
If you catch a protected fish – in this case a large shark – you are supposed to let it go as soon as possible.
But what if you take a photograph of it first?
Anglers do this, and so for that matter do people studying fish. Continue reading
Saltworks provide unlikely rest stop for weary travellers 20/5/2016
Featured
Courtesy Sora Estrella.
Can a large-scale industrial development benefit endangered and threatened species, such as certain migrating shore birds?
It seems Dampier Salt’s Pilbara operations are providing an important diet supplement to birds like the Red Knot, Great Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit.
Science Network [read this story]
Science Network WA has ceased publication so I have copied the story here: Continue reading
Broome’s new bush tucker seed bank 16/4/2016
The Kimberley has a new seed bank that will function as a seed shop for bush tucker (Aboriginal food) plants, and for those needing to propogate plants for mine site rehabilitation and gardening.
Tamara Williams (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Cat Williams (Apace WA), Devena Cox (Nyul Nyul Rangers), Debbie Sibasado (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers), Kylie Weatherall (Environs Kimberley) and Cissy Tigan (Bardi Jawi Oorany Rangers).
It is also intended to be a supplier to high-end restaurants serving Aboriginal food-influenced dishes.
It also has a serious conservation purpose in preserving rare species for ecological renewall.
This may become important when, for example, rare Kimberley vine thickets are destroyed by bushfires.
Science Network [read this story]
Job creation and ‘rural smells’: two piggery tales – 14/4/2016 and 10/3/2016
PLANTAGENET Shire has approved two free-range piggeries in two months, despite neighbours’ objections on environmental and amenities grounds.
Click on this image to read the story.
I love development stories because hardly anyone else does them.
Council minutes and agendas can make them appear so dull, yet to someone, somewhere, someone is planning to dig, build or change something right beside the places they live, work or otherwise value.
Click on this image to read the story.
This is not boring for them and if we don’t give them good information as readers we don’t deserve to be their chosen newspaper.
If a similar story comes up a second time, the challenge then is to see what is new about it, and tell the story afresh.
From The Great Southern Weekender