Telum Talks... Covering COVID-19 in Western Sydney
Feature

Telum Talks... Covering COVID-19 in Western Sydney

By Erin Assur

The Western Sydney (Dharug land) region of New South Wales is slowly emerging from a prolonged COVID-19 lockdown following the spread of a new strain of the disease earlier this year. One of Australia's most culturally diverse regions, Western Sydney was classified as an area of concern and residents were swiftly locked down, leaving many of its 940,000 residents out of work and anxious about their safety. In the following months, Western Sydney residents turned to the media for updates, case figures and news on vaccine developments and restriction changes. 

Now as businesses reopen and restrictions ease in time for the holiday season, locals are feeling cautiously optimistic about life returning to normal. Telum spoke to three journalists about their experience reporting on the ground during Western Sydney's extended lockdown. 
 

Nabil Al Nashar, Cross-Platform Journalist at SBS Arabic:
The Arabic speaking community has a long-standing presence in Western Sydney, particularly in the areas of Auburn, Bankstown, Canterbury and Parramatta. For Nabil Al Nashar, working for the SBS' largest language programme, SBS Arabic, during the lockdown, saw him experimenting with new ways to disseminate the news to his audience. 

SBS teamed up with New South Wales Health during the lockdown to boost public health messaging across many culturally and linguistically diverse communities in the state, including Western Sydney. "We dedicated a considerable amount of our resources to making sure every piece of information was updated in language on all platforms as soon as it became available," Nabil said. "We were running weekend shifts and doing live interpretation of the daily 11am COVID update press conferences in Arabic and several other languages".

Nabil noticed an increased demand for content related to vaccination rates, case numbers, employment figures and the JobKeeper initiative from his audiences. "More than anything audiences wanted to know how the lockdown restrictions affected them. When could they see families? Have weddings? Mourn their dead in funerals?" Nabil said. "International travel was a big issue too, because many have families back home that they haven’t seen in a long time."
 

Ben Talintyre, Journalist at the Blacktown Advocate:
In the city of Blacktown, located 36km west of Sydney, Ben Talintyre was just one of many reporters working around the clock to deliver pandemic updates to the community. Ben said he felt a responsibility to provide regular, accurate stories to Blacktown Advocate readers and would often scour social media for new and interesting angles to pursue. "COVID-19 was the focus. Vaccination rates and case numbers were the stories that performed well, as did anti-mask and lockdown protestors or people disobeying the public health orders," Ben said. "Tips for lockdown, whether it be home-learning or DIY haircuts, were what we used to mix the content up."

As Western Sydney residents re-enter "normal life", Ben said he is still actively looking for story pitches in this space. "I am personally always up to pitches from PRs, and I am always looking for a new angle. Stories need to be different, but also take into account the current circumstances out here."
 

Laura Ranola, Founder / Editor of The Western:
In the suburb of Doonside, Laura Ranola and her team at online publication, The Western, were working hard to find opportunities to provide music and arts content to residents who weren't able to visit venues or support the arts scene. They leaned on PRs to produce stories about supporting local artists and venues, and developed new ways to connect with their audiences online. 

"During the lockdown, we were able to remain consistent with content," Laura said. "We had music reviews and an Instagram live session every Wednesday that covered mental health issues." According to Laura, the lockdown was the "perfect time" to connect with others and engage in discussions about how they were feeling. "This brought a real sense of community and connection".


Answers submitted by Nabil Al Nashar (SBS Arabic TV), Ben Talintyre (Blacktown Advocate) and Laura Ranola (The Western).

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Telum Media

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Journalists
Benjamin Talintyre

Senior Sports Reporter

Nabil Al Nashar

Federal Political Reporter

Laura Ranola

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Telum Media

1 contact, 122 media requests

Blacktown Advocate

2 contacts

SBS Television SBS World News (Television)

55 contacts, 10 media requests

The Western

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