our world today, positive nfp news service from adelaide
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Our World Today, a not-for-profit based in Adelaide, focussing on positive news. Interview from radelaide.me magazineTRANSCRIPT
7radelaide.me
Inconspicuously located on the first floor at number 6, Cinema Place, news is being gathered and published.
Perhaps not such a big thing, given the number of news channels available online, on television and in the
newsagent; until, however, you notice that the items run by the Our World Today team have a clear, and possi-
bly surprising, goal in mind: positivity, wherever possible. And, dare we say it, a knock-on implied optimism
for the way in which the news media can contribute to our appreciation of the world around us.
Case in point: a recent OWT Twitter post ran with the lead ‘the only disability in life is a bad attitude’.
We decided to find out more.
8 radelaide.me
world, and what it was like to be sur-
rounded by a negative view of society.
Soon after, in the pub over a beer, where
all good ideas are born, we made the deci-
sion to start our own organisation, focus-
ing on inspiring and empowering readers
into taking positive action.
o you’d say the news media has a
responsibility to its audience to prompt
reflection as well as discussion of issues?
I think the news media has a huge social
responsibility, and this is more often than
not forgotten or simply absent.
The media has one of the biggest roles
in influencing how people see the world,
and how people perceive cultures, plac-
es and issues. I think this is not thought
about enough and, unfortunately, people
only get to see a small percentage of what
is really going on.
ow does being a not-for profit affect
how OWT approaches the news you re-
port? And is part of OWT’s success directly
a result of being a not-for-profit?
As a not for profit we have no corporate
issues. We can’t be owned by anyone and
can’t be ‘bought out’. We simply have a
he obvious first question: how did Our
World Today come about?
I started my media career working in
production at Channel 9 here in Adelaide.
I left to spend 7 months backpacking
through Africa, part of which was spent
setting up a radio station for East African
youth to have a voice on radio.
On returning home I wasn’t too keen to
enter the world of media again, so I start-
ed a project with the Australian Refugee
Association, and worked in the Darwin
immigration centre.
Those experiences, alongside travelling,
really opened my eyes, and I realised the
number of amazing, and simply good,
people in the world. I felt there were so
many inspiring stories, but they were just
not being shared.
I went back to uni and studied postgrad
journalism, and whilst there met up with
an old friend, Mike Worsman.
Mike had worked as a journo in the
Riverland, and was now in PR at the Roy-
al Adelaide hospital. We began chatting
about news, the media, and why conflict
has possibly the highest news value.
We researched the effect this had on
people, and on their perception of the
“If you’re an Adelaide-based social change venture, we’d love to chat about you using the Our World Today space.”
9radelaide.me
ing and passionate young people, and we
would not be where we are without them.
Since our launch in August 2011, we’ve
found we almost have two separate prod-
ucts: news, and community.
What we’re trying to do now is really link
the two - ‘telling’ the news, if you will.
We’re here more to share stories, engage
people with people, and people with sto-
ries. Community is crucial in that.
We thought, since we have such an
amazing office space (Chris laughs - ‘I
invite anyone to come and check it out’),
and we aim to build on our community,
let’s engage a number of like-minded,
young, entrepreneurial people who are
interested in what we do and are them-
selves working towards social change.
Coworking is something that is starting
to take off in Adelaide, so if we can engage
board of directors, and they have no say
on the news content.
As a not-for-profit, we also don’t look to
shock to sell papers.
Yes, I think it has certainly added to
our success. We have had a lot of in-kind
support, in terms of website, office space,
computers, equipment etc and NFP is in-
tegral to our volunteer approach.
WT is run with the contribution of a
number of volunteers. Could you tell us a
bit about why, and maybe introduce us to
one of them?
A few reasons. As I said, we’re NFP, and
lack the finances to pay a large staff, and
so we rely on volunteers instead.
We have a great relationship with the
Universities here in South Australia, and
around the country, and people are keen
to get involved and work with us.
It’s a ‘win, win, win’ really. We win, as we
get content produced; the volunteer wins
as they get unprecedented experience
and published work; and the uni’s win as
students get ‘tuition’ and opportunities.
The volunteer community has been
great for growing our wider community
too. They are an amazing bunch of inspir-
And it turns out that, whilst plenty of organisations talk grandly about concepts like collaboration, inspiration, and working together, OWT are walking the talk in this area as well, with the introduction of coworking spaces to the OWT office, under the working title Our Office Today.
For information about coworking in
Our Office Today, contact Chris:
10 radelaide.me
people with the idea early, that’s good
for Adelaide. Oh, and as you mentioned,
we’ve called it “Our Office Today’!
ou’ve also made the OWT space avail-
able to a number of local collaborative
groups. What’s the thinking behind that?
Again, this is really linking that idea of
creating community, and engaging them
with our ideals. But also just allowing an
area for people to get together and col-
laborate. There are plenty of places for
people to get together and complain, so
we wanted to make a place where people
can get together and talk about creating
progressive and positive social change.
inding down, what would you say
have been the highlights for Our World
Today in 2012? And how about 2013?
For me, knowing that the extended com-
munity have just visited our site once, and
engaged with the idea and brand.
We’ve had 70,000 individual visits to the
site, and engaged over 200 volunteers.
Then there are all our partners and mem-
bers, and on and on. It’s quite amazing .
We also produced a series called Fringe
TV last March/April to cover the Adelaide
Fringe festival. The end product really
was great and the feedback was awesome.
Looking forward to that again this year.
But you know what? The best thing by
far is the thanks we’ve received. Just those
little comments or emails where people
say thanks, or write to say we’ve inspired
them, or changed their outlook.
o close, what would you wish for in the
New Year, wearing your OWT hat?
We’re keen to launch our new ‘club’ /
community campaign, as well as expand
the coworking and networking events.
We hope to reach up to 10,000 unique
website views a day. Certainly we’re still
trying to find our exact niche in the online
media world, but we’re getting there, and
that’s proved by over 70,000 individuals
visiting the Our World Today website in
the last year and half.
I decided to take part
because I was looking for
experience in Journalism.
After my first interview with
one of the directors at OWT,
I had never been so sure
about something - I wanted
absolutely to be a part of it.
Since joining the team in
mid-January I’ve loved ev-
ery second of it. From writ-
ing articles to researching
and assigning stories for the
journalists, it has given me
valuable experience, and
direction in my own life.
When I first started, I wasn’t
expecting to write imme-
diately, but the first day I
was assigned a story and so
I went with it. OWT chal-
lenged me and not only
helped me grow in my cho-
sen profession, but as a per-
son. I learnt how to contact
people, write articles, inter-
view and, now, research and
pitch story ideas.
Each moment spent with
OWT I learn something new,
and I’m proud and lucky to
have been a part of it.
When I first heard about
OWT, their vision and ap-
proach is what lured me in.
The way the directors at
OWT spoke about it, I could
see their passion and knew
that if any team was likely to
create a new form of online
news, it would be the team
at Our World Today.
I have 100% faith in them,
their outlook, and where
they are heading. I can see
OWT creating a workplace
unlike any other. I can see
OWT in the future, and I be-
lieve the world needs an on-
line news organisation like
OWT. It fits perfectly.
I have met amazing, posi-
tive, happy people who love
volunteering their time for
OWT - and so do I.
To be inspired, and to surround yourself with a positive mental environment, visit www.ourworldtoday.com.au.