Deadlines and sirens: behind the scenes with a regional reporter

Senior journalist Nadine Morton takes us behind the scenes of the Illawarra Mercury newsroom.

Transcript

00:00Hi my name is Nadine Morton and I'm a senior journalist at the Illawarra

00:12Mercury. My round is covering breaking news and emergency services. One of the

00:18main things I do each day is run the Illawarra Mercury's live blog. This is

00:23today's live blog. It will always be marked free on our website so you know

00:27exactly which story to click on to get the news that matters to you. I'm keeping

00:31an eye on the trains, the traffic, any severe weather updates that you need to

00:35know about. And in between all that I speak to emergency services about

00:39overnight incidents. Have you guys been on site since that happened?

00:45As a journalist we get ideas for stories from a variety of sources. It can be

00:51anything from a government report to simply being part of our local

00:55community, part of a sporting team or a volunteering organisation. In the past

01:00I've even got news tips while I'm waiting for my barista to make me

01:03cappuccino. But often I find the best tips are from you, community members

01:09who've looked out their window, crossed the road and have seen something and

01:13said something. I've been a journalist with Australian Community Media since

01:192011 and I love my job. I get to do some amazingly cool things. I have abseiled

01:25with army reservists, I have been with police behind the scenes at a clan lab

01:29and I have been in fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. As an

01:34emergency services reporter I'm often speaking to people on their worst day. So

01:40it's my honour and privilege to bring you the timely and accurate information

01:44that you need.