the South east regional media conference
South East Regional Media Professionals
Development Day
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance has organised a
professional development day for regional and rural media members on Saturday
April 17 2010 at the Visual Arts Centre, La Trobe University, Bendigo Campus, 121 View Street, Bendigo.
Alliance
members in rural and regional areas have consistently identified a number of
areas of training that they believe would benefit them in doing their work.
Reporting on mental
health; a problem for journalists, a problem for our communities
This seminar will be conducted by Marc Bryant, Project
Manager with Mindframe.
Marc joined the Hunter
Institute of Mental Health in February 2009 as projects manager on the
Mindframe National Media Initiative. Marc has many years' experience working in
and with the media, both as a journalist in the UK and in media and communications
for the National Health Service (UK) and the South Australian Health
Department. For the Institute, Marc plays a leading role on
several projects funded under the Mindframe National Media Initiative,
including Mindframe Media and Mental Health Project; Mindframe for Police and
Courts; and Response Ability (Public Relations). At a national level he has
also worked with almost all of the national media employers on the way that we
as journalists and as community members respond to the issues of mental
health.
Court reporting
without being caught; avoiding the pitfalls but getting the story
The second seminar will see the bringing together of two
of the greatest court reporters that we have seen in Victoria, Peter Gregory,
now at Monash University but formerly of The Age and Norrie Ross, of the Herald
Sun. These two, as a teaching tag team with many decades of experience around
the courts and police can show you how far you can go and importantly how to
know when you get there.
Peter Gregory
Peter Gregory became a court
reporter almost by default, when a colleague left the Brisbane Telegraph, an
afternoon daily newspaper, he began covering the Queensland legal system with little
experience or training. Today, more than 25 years later, he has joined Monash University
as one of Australia's
most experienced legal rounds journalists. He has worked as a court reporter in
three states, and covered many of Victoria's
major criminal cases after joining The Age newspaper in 1988.
They include the Walsh Street and
Silk/Miller police murder trials, the manslaughter trial resulting from the
death of former test cricketer David Hookes. In addition, Gregory reported on
civil cases, ranging from the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in
custody and native title claims, to defamation, terror and freedom of speech
applications, personal injuries claims and top-level sporting disputes.
During his journalistic
career, Gregory was regarded as a mentor for young reporters. He co-ordinated
their training as court reporters while working at The News, in Adelaide, from 1985 to
1988. He was also an informal tutor, with other senior journalists, at the
Victorian Supreme Court press room for almost 20 years.
He is the author of Court
Reporting in Australia, a text book aimed at giving students and young
journalists a guide to the craft.
Norrie Ross.
Norrie Ross has been a
journalist for over 30 years, always working as a news reporter.
He graduated with a diploma in journalism and worked
in a number of weekly newspapers in Scotland
before he became a partner in a successful news agency which acted as a feeder
for all of the national and regional newspapers in the UK and for television and radio. He
later moved to work in a daily newspaper in Aberdeen
before migrating to Australia
at the end of 1988. Norrie worked at the Geelong Advertiser, then the Sun
newspaper, and later the Herald Sun, where he was Supreme Court reporter for 12
years and then a law reporter. He has covered the Bushfires Royal Commission
and recently returned to court reporting for Herald Sun online and the print
edition. He is a past court reporter of the year winner and News Award winner
for campaigning journalism.
The Future of
Journalism
Branch Secretary Louise Connor
will also lead a discussion on the Future of Journalism. At a time of massive
restructure of our industry and the introduction of new technologies, new
consumer demands and changed work opportunities for journalists we all need to
consider what the media world is today and what it might be tomorrow. We also need
to consider the impact on our communities and our profession. What will the
role of a journalist be in ten or twenty years?
The Alliance
has produced a number of publications over the past three years detailing the
impact to date and the potential for worse or better to come. Louise, as a
senior elected official of the union, is in a unique position to lead such a
discussion.
**Attendance to this event is free of charge however,
bookings are essential**
**The conference begins at10 am and concludes at 5.30 pm**
**morning & afternoon tea and lunch will be provided **
If you would like to attend
the South East Regional Media Conference, please register by calling the Alliance Membership Centre on 1300 65 65 13.
