It was late on a Friday afternoon in January this year, when fires broke out west of Ballarat. We had few staff on deck at The Courier but when a story breaks, the newsroom needs to pivot.

Very quickly, we knew that whole communities close to the city's fringes were being asked to evacuate. A sudden wind change could prove catastrophic.

Meanwhile, in the central Victorian community of Harcourt, my uncle hosed down his fence as flames threatened neighbouring properties. Broadcast alerts said it was too late to leave. To look at an emergency services map that afternoon, it was a sea of red across regional Victoria. Communities were on high alert.

Our reporters and photographers were on the ground, keeping readers informed. But it was in the days and weeks that followed where our teams remained, ensuring the communities of Skipton and Streatham, Harcourt and Ravenswood, were never forgotten by decision-makers.

It's one example from the past year of our newsrooms serving as the definitive voice and champion of our community.

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Tools changed, but our role didn't

At 21, I walked into the newsroom as a cadet journalist, notebook in hand and a lot to learn. We told stories in print, with the most compelling news of the day making the front page. To this day, we still tell stories with the same impact; moving stories of tragedy and triumph that affect our communities - just like the bushfires.

Digital disruption was already knocking on our door, but few could have predicted just how radically the media landscape would be reshaped over the next 20 years.

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In 2011, I took my first step into that realm. iPhones changed the way we worked. Suddenly, we were reporting from the scene, publishing copy to our websites and social media in real time, serving rapidly growing audiences. Over the past decade, I've worked in and supported newsrooms across Australia and, throughout that time, media has been a volatile........

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