Rosemary Odgers
State Political Reporter, Courier Mail, The
Written by Lucy Corser on 2009-10-09
Rosemary Odgers started working at The Courier Mail in 1996 after graduating from the University of Queensland with a degree majoring in journalism. She started reporting in the general news and business sections, before moving to Canberra to report on federal politics. Rosemary came back to Brisbane at the start of 2002 to be a state political reporter and has been enjoying the variety and excitement of political reporting in Queensland ever since.
Why did you decide to pursue a career in the media and communication industry?
I always liked reading the newspaper – I grew up on the Sunshine Coast and we used to get the Sunshine Coast Daily delivered every day and I can remember always reading it and being interested in news. I was quite good at writing in high school so it seemed natural to go into journalism. At that stage there wasn’t a degree in journalism, so I did an arts degree with a double major in journalism at the University of Queensland. I still find that I am addicted to news – you don’t really lose that and I think it gets even more addictive as time goes on. I really enjoy reporting on politics and the variety and excitement of it. Politics is one of the bigger rounds at The Courier Mail and I don’t know that I could do anything else.
What are the most important or valuable skills that graduates can bring to your industry?
Apart from good communication and written skills, you need to know about current affairs and be aware of what is happening in the world. You also need to read the newspaper – there is no point going to work for a company or pitching a story to a newspaper that you don’t read.
Having contacts is also really important as most of our stories will come through contacts – they don’t just get handed out to you. You have to be realistic about whether your story is something that will run in the paper, and that is why you have to know your market and know what stories are newsworthy. Knowing how to write in a fun or different way is also very important because by having that skill you are going to capture more attention with your stories.
What features differentiate Brisbane-based newspapers to other national and international newspapers?
As far as The Courier Mail goes it doesn’t really have a major competitor as there are no other newspapers that are daily and state-wide. There are a lot of other daily newspapers in Queensland but they serve smaller areas, like the Gold Coast Bulletin or the Cairns Post. This is different from other states in Australia because when you look at Sydney for example, The Daily Telegraph competes head on with The Sydney Morning Herald, and in Melbourne The Age competes directly with The Herald Sun. So in other states there is more competition. Brisbane is a small market when you compare it to other cities around the world but there is more and more competition with online news these days, so although we don’t have a major competitor in a printed form, there is still a lot of competition with online reporting.
What do you think about the relationship between traditional media and new media?
Journalism is moving more towards online reporting, which changes how we work. When we are reporting on a story that other media organisations will also be chasing we need to be the first to file the story online. So it is a completely different mindset. We don’t hold onto stories to keep them for the newspaper the next day anymore – we put them online and then rewrite them for the newspaper with a fresh angle. When I started at The Courier Mail we could take our time to write stories, but now we have to file something for online as soon as possible, and it needs to be accurate.
Online is becoming more important as more people use it to keep up with the news. The newspaper is still where most main stories are broken as well as exclusive stories. Online is more for stories that other organisations are also reporting on – we just try to get them online first.
What changes do you see happening over the next five years in the newspaper industry?
I think newspapers will start charging for online content. At the moment online news is free but as more people turn online for news, the media organisations will have to start to charge. The issue with charging for online content is how do you go about doing that? People are so used to getting their news online for free.
Also, people talk about the death of newspapers. Time will tell with this issue but I think that there is still a desire for people to open up a newspaper and read the written word, and I don’t think that will change in the next five years. Maybe in ten or twenty years when the younger generation who are happy to sit on the computer and read their news online get older, but at the moment there are still people who want to read the newspaper in hard copy.
Could you describe a typical day as State Political Reporter at the Courier Mail?
In the morning I will read The Courier Mail, The Australian, listen to ABC radio and also look at the news online to check if there is news breaking. By the time I get to work I know what press conferences are happening. Usually Anna Bligh has an issue of the day that she wants to talk about and we ask her questions about any topical issues such as a controversial court case or if something has happened federally that we want to get a comment about. I then go back to the office and write up the press conferences as well as write up other stories that I am working on and chase stories for the next day. We file our news stories by about six o’clock, watch the five o’clock news and the six o’clock news and then head home and watch the seven o’clock news.
What is the best part of your job as a journalist?
The best part about being a journalist is finding out news as it happens. I still get excited when a big story breaks and you are one of the first people to hear about it. For example, when Anna Bligh called the 2009 state election The Courier Mail was the first to break that story. The best and worst part of the job is that you will never know what is around the corner. You can be about to leave work and something big happens so you will stay in the office for a few more hours. As much as it is frustrating when that happens it is also exciting. As a journalist you can come in to work and every day is different. You are always working on different stories and talking to different people so there is a lot of variety.