Celebrated journalist H.L. Mencken once said: “Journalism is to politician as dog is to lamppost.” 

More of that later. But first, full disclosure: for thirty-odd years I worked for traditional media – i.e. newspapers. I left the industry fifteen years ago when there was a lemming-like rush by news organisations to upload stories and pictures online for free. Advertising revenue would quickly shift from newsprint to news site. The transition from print to digital would be seamless and successful. Or so they said.

None of that happened. Instead, readers stopped buying the (previously profitable) newspaper, circulation revenue dropped which led to advertisers demanding cheaper rates. Newspapers then cut costs, employed fewer journos, and printed fewer pages daily. The result: quality plummeted, profits dived. Paywalls were finally erected while print editions were killed.  

What has all that got to do with Noosa? We used to be served by two free newspapers, one of them a bi-weekly, plus a daily out of Maroochydore. Today, only one remains in print form. I do not wish to criticize the latter unduly, but let’s just say it is not the sort of watchdog that Mencken had in mind. 

The result is that Noosa Council, once held to account by dogged (excuse the pun) journalists for decades, has enjoyed less scrutiny in recent years. That is problematic at a time when many residents feel we are reaching a crossroads. A turning point when one crazy decision – like newspapers giving away content free – could mark the beginning of the end of the laid-back, life-affirming Noosa we’ve known and loved. 

What is certain is that our home is under greater threat than ever. We know the causes. Opportunistic developers. Too many day-trippers. Choking traffic congestion. Mounting pressure to build higher. Short-term accommodation on the rise. To name but a few.

With a million-plus increase slated for the SEQ population in the next twenty years and the Olympics arriving in 2032, it can only get worse. We will need our elected officials to hold the line as never before. A council concession here, a dodgy planning decision there and we could end up just another Surfer’s. 

But who will hold Council to account? In my time, newspapers, for all their faults, were regulated and legally accountable. They were staffed by trained journalists who, in the main, wanted to keep society on the right track while keeping the bastards (ie politicians) honest. 

Nowadays, I see fewer experienced reporters holding the toes of politicians, police and profiteers to the fire. I see less investment in investigative work, resulting in more opportunities for crime and corruption. I see people under fifty getting their main news fix from social media, much of it from untrained and unrestrained bloggers, vloggers and floggers who spin their own version of the ‘truth’. And don’t get me started on so-called ‘influencers’!

That’s why the arrival of Noosa Matters is so timely, with on-point opinions and analysis from some of those same local journalists I mentioned earlier, experienced community activists and former custodians of the Shire’s interests (including an ex Mayor or two)… people well placed to comment on the current and future state of play in this little piece of paradise. To sniff the lampposts.

As a former journalist who has lived in Noosa for nineteen years and was actively involved in the ‘Free Noosa’ campaign, I hope to join them in ensuring that potential decisions that could lead to a disastrous wrong turn do not go unchallenged. Watch this space.