News Corp’s regional publications kept communities informed during the floods crisis

The NSW and Queensland floods crisis left many communities hungry for up to date information, and many relied on local News Corp publications for breaking news.

Northern Star journalist Tessa Flemming worked some of the week from evacuation centres in Ballina and Lennox Head to keep readers informed.

Battling floodwaters, decimated roads, power outages and having little or no phone or internet reception while also dealing with the personal impacts of the recent NSW and Queensland floods made it a gruelling time for reporters working around the clock to inform regional communities of the disaster as it unfolded.

Residents were desperate for regular information from their local media outlets as floodwaters inundated many townships late last month, and the situation continued to worsen for thousands of Australians who were forced to evacuate from their homes in the days and weeks that followed.

Tessa Flemming, who is a journalist in News Corp’s northern regional NSW team and writes for the online Northern Star publication, said her home at West Ballina was heavily impacted by floodwaters, forcing her to leave and bunker down in two evacuation centres while covering the crisis.

The 23-year-old said it was critical to ensure residents in and around these communities were safe – but also well-informed – throughout the crisis.

“There was a drive in me to tell these stories, there was such a need for information in the community and people were utterly desperate for anything that we were able to pass onto them,” Flemming said.

“I felt it was our duty of care as journalists to help in any way that we could, within the confines of our profession.

“So many people were cut off and we weren’t getting a lot of information from the government on what was happening so we had to keep people up to date.”

One of Tessa Flemming’s pictures of the flooding in Ballina on March 1.

During the floods crisis, News Corp’s regional community mastheads covered affected areas along a 1400km stretch from Queensland’s Fraser Coast down to NSW’s south coast, with 43 local titles producing more than 300 articles and photo galleries, compiled by 76 reporters filing from their homes, makeshift offices, cars and, for some, evacuation centres.

News Corp’s national community masthead network head of digital, Rowan Hunnam, said the journalists working on the floods coverage had a true understanding of what the community was enduring.

“What they were going through isn’t just a professional experience, it impacts them as well,” Hunnam said. “That’s been a key part of the coverage – we live locally and it means that we are there for the days, weeks and months afterwards as people are rebuilding their lives.

“That gives us a better understanding.”