Bay Harbour: February 20, 2019

Wednesday February 20 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 7
to taking Chch into the future
You did a stint at the Otago
Daily Times as well?
I did. I was living and working
in England, in Cambridge, with
my then boyfriend, now husband.
He’s a technology writer, we met at
journalism school. There are three
couples from our class and we’re
all still married. My father was
diagnosed with terminal cancer,
my parents lived in Dunedin,
so I moved back and worked at
the ODT. In my last role [South
Island editor-in-chief for Fairfax],
I had 19 community papers in my
portfolio, so I have had very close
contact with community papers.
When you started your career,
did you ever think you would
end up as an editor?
No, I’m not that deliberate.
Editing is an incredible privilege
and amazing fun and very hard as
well. I was just very fortunate to
get that opportunity.
Have any of your stories stuck
with you over the last 20 years?
Yes, there are some really, really
powerful ones. The very first
big story I covered as a junior
reporter at the Dominion. I was
working over Christmas and a
young couple [Ben Smart and
Olivia Hope] were reported
missing in the Marlborough
Sounds. Those stories always stick
with you.
Then more recently,
Christchurch. It was interesting
in itself, I was in Wellington
when the quakes of 2010 and
2011 happened. We were working
very closely with the team at The
Press and in fact on the evening
of February 22, we in Wellington
helped The Press team put out that
edition that landed on people’s
driveways on February 23.
That was pretty crazy and
incredible. That night the
reporters all worked, they filed
their copy and we helped produce
that edition of The Press from the
Wellington newsroom and that
next morning that Press was on
people’s driveways. I used to talk
about that publicly and people
would cry.
That’s the power of the media,
it’s so important.
BIG STORY: Joanna
Norris’ journalism career
started after being in a
class with David Bain
at Otago University,
while the first big story
she worked on was the
murder of Ben Smart
and Olivia Hope in
Marlborough.
Have you had any big
fumbles?
That’s the nature of news. There
have definitely been things that
I have reflected on later and
thought we could have handled
that differently, or we could have
put more thought into that, or I
wish we’d had more information
before we published that, we
would have been better off. That
being said, I always describe
the media as a bit of a blunt
instrument, in that you wobble
towards a position of truth
with each iteration of a story.
Journalists are not academics
sitting for three years doing a
thesis and producing a body
of work. You work to whatever
time you work to, weekly, daily
or digital, you get to the truth
and you hold those in power
accountable.
Do you miss working in the
media?
There’s a lot I miss about the
media, absolutely. But I am
also very fortunate to work
with journalists right across the
spectrum and that’s quite a treat
as well.
What do you see for the future
of journalism?
I have great hope for the
media. I think the commercial
proposition is deeply challenging
and very, very difficult in a New
Zealand environment where scale
is a challenge. There are only five
million people, there are only a
certain number of consumers
who are prepared to pay for a
product and a limited number of
advertisers.
But journalism is so
fundamental to a safe and strong
society that there must be a
way through this and I think
journalism is as good now as it’s
ever been.
Some of the investigative work
that’s done by teams across the
country by all media agencies
really makes a difference and
it’s absolutely essential that
the fourth estate keeps an eye
on people in power. It has to
continue.
Are you surprised or
disappointed by the moves made
by Channel Nine in Australia to
sell New Zealand assets such as
The Press?
No, media ownership
changes, it always has done. I
think when I worked for what
was then Fairfax, I think I
worked under three different
owners in the course of my career.
I always said to my newsroom,
you just do your job, your job
is to be a journalist and hold
the powerful to account and
be a watchdog and champion.
It’s other people’s jobs to worry
about what the governance and
ownership looks like. If you’re
continually worried about what’s
around the corner, you don’t do
your job properly.
Do you have any advice for
aspiring journalists who want to
get into the industry or young
reporters?
Just stay curious. But secondly,
know the power that you have. As
a young journo, you don’t quite
understand the words that you
write have an impact and often
you don’t see that impact. It will
change someone’s behaviour, it
will happen behind the scenes,
or the language that you use will
change someone’s life. Just always
be cognisant of the power that
you have both to do good and
damage.
What made you jump from
journalism to the corporate
world?
I had worked as the editor of
The Press for five years and had
overseen a lot of change in that
time. Some of that change was
really challenging to lead. I was
aware I would need to do a lot
more of that change management
as time went on. Again, I was
aware it was likely the next step
in my career at what was then
Fairfax would have been moving
back to Wellington.
•Turn to page 8
Environment Canterbury
ANNUAL PLAN 2019-20
E19/7226
Environment Canterbury is considering its 2019-20
Annual Plan.
While the plan largely aligns with the most recent
Long-Term Plan, small changes to our fees and charges
policy and our revenue and financing policy are being
considered. Increased funding of public transport to
match funding from NZTA and increased funding in water
management, pest control and biodiversity are also being
considered, as well as a reduction in air quality funding.
These will impact on some ratepayers, depending on
their location, when the 2019-20 Regional Council
rate is confirmed.
To find out how these changes affect you, and to provide
feedback, visit haveyoursay.ecan.govt.nz/annualplan
Facilitating sustainable development
in the Canterbury region
www.ecan.govt.nz