LIFE as a district reporter on a local newspaper with its variety of articles was the inside story given to club members at the monthly speaker meeting.
Kimberley Barber of The News explained that she covered such a wide range of stories on her patch, from Bishops Waltham to the outskirts of Portsmouth, that she had to be prepared for anything.
“I now carry everything from wellies to a smart jacket in my car,”she said.
Most stories are tip offs from the general public. One example was the coverage of the floods in Wallington last year when she was the first on the scene. Within hours of posting the story online the national media had descended on the village. The ensuing publicity meant Wallington received a great deal of support and flood defences were quickly improved.
Local stories often feed up to the national media. For example. when a woman was attacked walking along Fareham Creek she fought off her attacker and managed to pull off his mask and gloves. The police contacted The News to appeal for witnesses and Kimberley received a tip off from the police when someone was caught. She met the victim at the initial court hearing and was with her at the three day crown court trial. The victim gave her an exclusive interview and agreed to waive her anonymity. “She was a very brave and inspiring woman,” said Kimberley..
A more heart warming story concerned Harvey Young from Titchfield who suffered from cerebral palsy. Through The News, funds were raised for him to go to the USA for an operation not available in the UK. As a result he was able to walk and received the Young Citizen of Honour Award.
Some stories are simply bizarre like Mick Hobley from Hill Head who claimed to have eaten a bowl of corn flakes in every country around the world to raise awareness of diabetes. This tale received international coverage after it appeared on The News website.
Journalism is a job where you see the extremes of humanity, reporters get called all sorts of unpleasant names, have things thrown at them and they do get things wrong when under intense pressure to meet deadlines for the website, Twitter and the printed newspaper.
Newspapers are in decline as a result of the internet and in her view will become a luxury as they rise in price.
Kimberley has covered many different stories with the opportunity to do things that would not usually be possible: She had been on a nuclear submarine, been out to sea with the Royal Navy, tried archery and undergone fire-fighting training.
“I’m always learning something new. Journalists are always good members of quiz teams as they know a little about a lot!”
Although it can be frustrating when nationals take up local stories it is satisfying to know that it was your story first. In fact, it is rare that the nationals have a story before local reporters. One exception was when builders found some bones in a Fareham garden – they rang The Sun! The Nationals do trawl local news websites for stories, though.
The public often complain that the standard of writing has declined with poor spelling, grammar and punctuation. In the past there were sub editors and proof readers to make corrections before a story appeared in print.
And although there are staff photographers, reporters are often expected to take photos on their phones.
Despite everything, Kimberley loves her job, is full of enthusiasm and wouldn’t want to do anything else.