Top 20 Take Away Tips for Tweeting Journos*

1) Think before you tweet - you can't delete an indiscrete tweet!
2) Think carefully about what your RTing & acknowledge if it's unsubstantiated
3) Be an active twit: tweet daily if you want your followers to stick.
4) Determine your Twitter identity
5) Be human; be honest; be open; be active
6) Don't lock your account if you want to use Twitter for reporting purposes - this fosters distrust
7) Twitter is a community, not a one-way conversation or broadcast channel- actively engage
8) Check if your employer has a social media policy
9) Be cautious when tweeting about your employer/workplace/colleagues
10) Be a judicious follower - don't be stingy but avoid following everyone as your list grows.
11) If you quote a tweet, attribute it
12) Expect your competitors to steal your leads if you Tweet about them
13) Don't tweet while angry or drunk
14) Avoid racist, sexist, bigoted & otherwise offensive tweets and never abuse a follower
15) Scrutinise crowd-sourced stories closely
16) Find people to follow & foster followers by pilfering the lists of other 'twits'.
17) Twitter is a 'time vampire' (via @anne_brand) - you don't need to keep track of all tweets - dip in & out through the day.
18) Prevent information overload by using an application such as Tweetdeck
19) Set up your Internet-enabled mobile device so you can live-tweet on the road.
20) Value add your tweets with links, Twitpic and other applications for audio & video

As journalists become space invaders in the Twittersphere they're asking what are the rules of engagement for professional reporters on the platform? I've interviewed 25 Australian, South African and US journalist-tweeters as part of a research project on the issues arising out of the mainstream media's engagement with the micro-bogging platform.

One major theme to emerge has been journalists' desire for a quick reference guide to help them optimise their Twitter experience without compromising their professional and ethical standards.

So, I asked participating journos for their tips on being successful 'twits' and combined with my own experience this list of helpful hints is what emerged.

*This tips list first appeared on the PBS website Mediashiftfor which I've written a series on journalists and Twitter based on my research. You can read How Journalists are using Twitter in Australia here, How Journalists Balance Work, Personal Lives on Twitter here and Rules of Engagement for Journalists on Twitter here

   [read more]

An earlier version of this post first appeared @ the PBS website Mediashift, titled How Journalists Balance Work, Personal Lives on Twitter

Twitter is continuing to make headlines around the world as it amasses followers. But it's also making an impact on the newsmakers themselves. Journalists are invading the space at a rapid pace and learning to report live, crowdsource stories and engage with a whole new audience...in 140 characters or less.

It may not be revolutionary -- many journalists view the micro-blogging platform as just another tool in their kitbag -- but it is changing journalistic practice and raising important questions about ethics and professionalism. In fact, one of the key contemporary journalistic dilemmas -- how to define or redefine objectivity in the social media age -- is being played out live via tweets.

Part one of this investigation into tweeting journos was based on interviews with 25 journalists (mostly Australian) and informed by my own experience on the platform. In the aftermath of that article, I received many responses from journalists (and media outlets) via Twitter who also wanted to make a contribution. Their willingness to engage in debate on the issues and eagerness to participate in subsequent stories highlighted for me the significance and timeliness of this research, so I've decided to turn this two-part Mediashift series into a comprehensive trilogy.

In part two, I'll discuss the impact of Twitter on daily reporting and its challenges to traditional journalistic identity and professionalism as the private and the public spheres merge, further blurring the line between reporting and opinion.

Twitter's clash of the personal & the professional

In my view, while balance, fairness and accuracy remain important aspects of journalistic identity, definitions of objectivity that consider he said, she said news pieces to be the only valid form of journalism are narrow and anachronistic. Neither do I subscribe to the view that journalists should be didactic, colourless, un-opinionated, one-dimensional information processors.

But social media platforms encourage the merger of the private and public experiences of journalists and this is new territory for beings used to commenting on their subjects' lives rather than subjecting their own lives to scrutiny. As journalists, we now post pictures of intimate family moments on Facebook, we blog about tender and painful life experiences and respond to news posts with forceful opinions.

On Twitter -- a medium which is fleeting and frenetically paced -- we can find ourselves posting a link to a news story we've written one minute and writing a reflective Haiku poem or making a witty life observation the next...at least that's my modus operandi. (For a different approach, consider Jay Rosen's Twitter mind-casting.

Gen Robey, editor of Wotnews, says keeping the personal and professional separate is increasingly difficult when you're trying to maximise the benefits of communities like Twitter, noting that, "The overlapping of the personal and professional, and thus the emphasis on trust and meaningful relationships, is often what makes Twitter so powerful."

While this practice makes us human and much more appealing to our followers and mainstream audiences, there are professional consequences to consider.

So how do professional journalists manage the merger of the private and the public, the personal and the professional on Twitter? And how much of themselves and their opinions do they reveal in trying to build relationships with audiences and sources? Of the 25 reporters I interviewed, some choose to acknowledge both private and professional purposes of their Twitter accounts to establish dual identity. Others chose to tweet only "off-the-clock" or "on-the-clock" and a few ran separate Twitter accounts to accommodate both the private and the professional.

One Australian journalist who's been forced to reassess his use of Twitter as a public platform for his personal views is the Sydney Morning Herald's technology writer Asher Moses. Moses was recently outed by the irreverent online news magazine Crikey for sexist comments he made on his Twitter account about a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by a team of professional footballers.



Crikey mistakenly attributed other quotes, about an unrelated matter, from a fake account in Moses' name, to Moses and has since apologised for that sloppy work. But the quotes above were made by the real Asher Moses and he told me he regrets the offending tweets.

"Although I wrote the tweet in my own time on a personal Twitter account," he said. "I used two words that in hindsight were inappropriate, particularly considering I mainly used Twitter for work-related messages. I quickly deleted the post, but by then it was too late and within a day I had Crikey ...breathing down my neck. The tweet still appeared in Twitter search. It's sad in a way, but you really have to assume that whatever you write is going to be viewed by the whole world and you have to be prepared for people to link your personal views to your employer."

Ironically, Moses has report on a government communications worker who risked his job with comments he wrote on Twitter and his blog. And while Moses' job wasn't threatened by the incident, he has changed his tweeting habits as a result of the experience.

"Up until recently I used it for both tweeting links to my stories and engaging in discussions -- not always work-related," he said. "But I'm fast finding that even though I have viewed Twitter as a personal space for my personal thoughts and opinions, readers can interpret what I say as the official Fairfax (owners of the SMH) line, which creates all sorts of complications. So after recent events I've decided to use Twitter purely for work-related messages."

In the midst of the storm that followed Moses' questionable tweeting, Jason Whittaker who edits a stable of trade magazines for Australian Consolidated Press defended Moses' right as a journalist to tweet his opinions and indulge in news commentary without endorsing his views.

"Do journalists who use Twitter have to be mindful of being in the public domain and project the same perception of objectivity as they do on the clock as a journalist?" he asked. "Even if they're commenting on matters they have nothing to do with as a journalist? Are readers capable of making the distinction? Can't they accept that journos are not mindless drones and DO have opinions, but this doesn't mean they can't do the job as an objective observer when on the clock?"

Whittaker initially began tweeting anonymously as @thetowncrier but, after considering the clash of the two spheres, he has since included in his Twitter bio his real name and a link to a blog which identifies his employer.

"I was HIGHLY reluctant to put my opinions in a public space, but I made the decision that I had things I wanted to say and I was comfortable with the separation between work and personal," he said.

The ABC's Michael Turtle has a pragmatic approach to this Twitter dilemma.

"The basic rules... should be the same as when writing as a journalist," he said. "You don't want to express personal opinions on sensitive issues because, even if your reporting is completely impartial. You don't want to open yourself up to accusations of bias."

Sky News' John Bergin separates his private and work Twitter accounts in an effort to manage these dilemmas. He has this advice for balancing the personal and the professional: "Think carefully about what 'hat' you're wearing when you share personal opinions and political views -- is it clear to others that you are speaking on behalf of yourself, or your employer? If you express an opinion on a news story, think about how this will be construed if you are then required to report on 'the facts' of the same issue at a later date."

Considering Privacy & Personal Safety

There are other reasons for journalists to be cautious about what they reveal on Twitter, or any other open social media platform. In the same way journalists may choose to have unlisted home phone numbers and addresses for privacy reasons, tweeting reporters need to consider their personal safety.

"I'm careful not to reveal too much about exactly where I live, and I rarely tweet about my wife," said Dave Earley, a reporter with the Brisbane Courier Mail. "She hasn't chosen for any aspect of her private life to be revealed online, so I mainly try to keep Twitter about me, with occasional references to family."



Leigh Sales is one tweeting Australian journalist who has managed to blend the personal and professional very well -- maintaining her credibility as the anchor of a respected ABC nightly news program while endearing herself to her audience by revealing a multi-dimensional character. She does this by largely restricting her tweets to news- or issues-oriented subject matter but employing wit and humour as short storytelling devices. What results is a very effective blend of serious observations with a news stand-up routine -- Twiticism. And humour is a humanising quality which Sales says helps "make the medicine go down" -- the medicine being the serious news she's tweeting about or linking to.

"If you can be interesting and engaging, then people will follow you more readily than if you're dry," she said. "If you're those things, people RT you or recommend you to their friends."

How is Twitter Changing Journalism

Twitter is both a venue for discussion about the future of journalism and a feature of the discussion. Some see it as a symptom of the demise of the fourth estate, others see it as part of the plan for professional journalism's salvation in an age of rapid technological, economic and industrial change. It's certainly one way to merge news dissemination and increasingly necessary audience engagement. It's also a natural online home for inherently inquisitive and dialogue-oriented journalists like Caroline Overington, a writer with Rupert Murdoch's national daily The Australian.

"I find Twitter to be a more friendly media site than the blogs, which tend to be full of bile," she said. "That may be because it's real people. It's a kind spot on the web."

At a practical level, Twitter is changing how journalism is practiced. Tweeting is fast becoming necessary for journalists and even compulsory in some news organisations. Some journalists interviewed highlighted the ability of ‘retweets’ (RTs) – the practice of citing and re-distributing a tweet – to indicate the appeal of a story to a particular audience and guide the extent of coverage an issue gets, similar to the effect of talkback radio and news focus groups. And a few talked about Twitter’s ability to make news-gathering processes more transparent through journalists publicly processing reporting techniques and practices in real time. But the role of Twitter in breaking news was most frequently mentioned.

Breaking News on Twitter - Headlines on Speed

And it's not just a platform to cover already-broken news in easily digestible bites. It's also emerging as a zone in which to break news, as I highlighted in part one of this series.

An ABC case study neatly illustrates these points in the Australian context. Wildfires and an earth tremor near Melbourne, storms in Brisbane and a widespread blackout in Sydney put Twitter to the test this year as a breaking news device.



In early February, when Australia's deadliest ever bushfires raged around Victoria (they would ultimately claim 173 lives), Wolf Cocklin, a digital media developer with the ABC, shifted the network's Twitter accounts into high gear. As the ABC's Melbourne radio station commenced emergency 24 hour broadcasts, Mr Cocklin used the @774melbourne Twitter account to disseminate warnings and news alerts while monitoring the Twittersphere for eyewitness accounts and other information which could be checked and verified with officials before being broadcast.

"I never tweeted callers through to the radio station unless they were an attributable source," he said. This is a more strict approach than that adopted for talkback callers who are regularly put to air to describe their experiences and observations of disaster zones without their stories being properly checked. But Mr Cocklin says this approach may change as Twitter becomes more established as a feature of such broadcasts.

ABC Brisbane's Amanda Dell believes that Twitter is particularly pertinent to radio coverage of events.

"I find Twitter to be the best source of breaking news," she said. "When there was a minor earthquake in Melbourne recently, I knew about it seconds after it happened. It was at least 20 to 30 minutes before any of the online news sites had the information. In radio, that immediacy is a huge advantage."

Wolf Cocklin is adamant that journalists need to be on Twitter because of its role in breaking news coverage; he cites Twitter's role in reporting a recent large scale blackout in Sydney as an example.

"I was able to crowdsource the size and approximate location of the affected area in 5 minutes, faster than calling 100 people to ask them if their power was out," he said.

ABC Online's Gary Kemble agrees, saying Twitter is invaluable for alerting media outlets to breaking stories and that the ABC has decided to break news first on Twitter ahead of its own website: "We use the @abcnews service to post 'breaking news' alerts. It's faster than our CMS, so we can get the info out there faster, in the first instance, by using Twitter."

Fact-Check First, Tweet Second

Twitter is news headlines on speed. But despite the pressure of an unrelenting 24/7 news cycle, most of the journalists I interviewed expressed caution about blind reliance on Twitter for crowdsourcing coverage during breaking news events. Paramount -- particularly during disasters -- was concern about accuracy and public safety, as John Bergin of Sky News noted.

"Twitter may have accelerated the means by which we can source information, but that doesn't mean that Sky News, or any other news outlet, should incorporate crowdsourced versions of events or comments without holding them up to careful scrutiny first," he said.

Nevertheless, Sky has incorporated Twitter into disaster coverage.

"In the case of the Melbourne tremor we used Twitter, along with viewer emails and phone calls, to inform viewers of what was happening prior to the release of any formal information from Geosciences Australia," said Bergin.

ACP's Jason Whittaker agrees, saying traditional reporting principles still need to be applied to Twitter.

"An account from a witness on Twitter is little different to interviewing someone over the phone or at the scene of an event and using this account to build a story," he said. Such information must be scrutinised just as much as traditionally sourced material. "It must be verified, checked against other sources, and treated with a degree of scepticism. Too many journalists are being caught out online by not doing enough checking of the facts, and Twitter is no different," he said.

While the old rules of fact checking prior to publication and awareness about the public and professional consequences of private actions remain good guidelines for tweeting journalists, Twitter has raised a new set of professional and ethical questions. For example: What's fair game for reporters on the platform? Is everything said in this public space reportable and on the record? Do you need to get permission from a tweeter to quote one of their tweets in a piece of traditional journalism? How much of an additional burden is daily tweeting on already overloaded journalists? And what's the impact of constant tweeting on their capacity to produce considered, original journalism?

I'll attempt to answer some of these questions in part three of this series which will focus on an examination of the "rules of engagement" for tweeting journalists as media outlets begin to establish guidelines and codes of conduct applicable to the platform. I'll also canvas the ways in which journalists are self-regulating their tweeting and provide practical tips for those just starting out on Twitter -- along with those more experienced tweeters who are still grappling with some of the issues discussed here.    [read more]

Pic: Reuters


I’ve been stunned at how easily the national media has adopted the KRUDD line on the controversial ‘gift’ he received from his car-dealer neighbour – a fully registered and insured vehicle used for electioneering purposes.

The ABC’s National Political Editor, Chris Uhlmann, declared in his 7pm political wrap last night that there was "nothing improper" about the PM’s decision to keep the car as he had declared it on the Pecuniary Interests Register – the list designed make political donations transparent.

Technically, Uhlmann is correct: while there are caps on donations to political parties, there are currently no regulations preventing or capping ‘gifts’ to individual politicians and Rudd has denied doing favours on behalf of his buddy, the used car salesman. However, what journalists of his calibre should be asking (in addition to "Did the dealer receive any benefits in recognition of his gift?") is, ethically, how appropriate was this act and is it time for a review of standards? (Sidebar: They should probably also analyse the strategic mistake made by the Opposition in dumping the ute-controversy on the media in the midst of such a news day. "Bugger".)

Significantly, a similar scandal recently erupted in South Africa when it was revealed the Transport Minister in the newly installed Zuma government was ‘gifted’ a Mercedes Benz. While he was also technically in the clear, he elected to return the car in the wake of a public outcry. If this was the approach adopted in a country scandalised by political corruption, under the leadership of a President pilloried by the international media for questionable conduct, how can Australia justify such a passive stance on a related issue?

I raised these concerns on Twitter yesterday, suggesting journalists were being too easily diverted from the story by the (very effective) PR tactics of the Rudd spin machine that went like this: Bombshell – “Look, Fitzgibbon!” - and comedic sidebar – “Those naughty Chaser boys!”

Speaking from experience as a former ABC press gallery journalist, I know it’s very hard to find the time and resources to properly follow leads and alternative angles when you’re being thrown curve-balls on a very big news day. But it must be done - you need to take five minutes to remove the blinkers and think outside the spin, to consider the bigger implications of issues like this. And that’s what remote editorial supervisors are for: to offer perspective outside the hothouse and assign other reporters to the issues as required, to ensure comprehensive coverage.

As I asked on Twitter – why are there no caps on donations or gifts to individual politicians? Where is the line? What’s to stop a politician receiving a fat account from a bank in the name of his or her child’s education? Could he or she accept a house built by a construction company to use for personal or political purposes? And what are the implications of such policy absences?

Kevin Rudd's neighbour: Car dealer, John grant who 'gifted' an electric ute to the PM. (Pic. courtesy Brisbane Times)

My proposal in response to Rudd's donated ute – three parts serious and one part wit: suggest the Prime Minister might consider donating his ‘gift' to the Starlight Foundation. That’s a suggestion now being peddled by Greens leader Bob Brown: "It's a terrible look," Senator Brown told AAP "I think the prime minister would have been very wise to give that car to charity years ago."

He’s also proposing a cap on donations to individual MPs of a few hundred dollars. “But when it comes to gifts worth thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars, they should be unavailable to individual MPs, let alone MPs who then become prime ministers,” Senator Brown said.

I’d go even further and suggest that to avoid the appearance of impropriety in an age where political cynicism already sees the community rating politicians' integrity very poorly, it would be wise to recommend against receiving any personal gifts from constituents or lobby groups. These are the protocols guiding the public servants working under Rudd and the journalists who report his government. For bureaucrats and reporters the implication of favours expected in return for gifts makes receipt of them verboten according to ethical codes of conduct and established protocols.

I’d also suggest journalists investigate this issue further – it’s much broader than a second hand ute being donated to the PM. How many politicians on both sides of parliament have profited from such questionable ‘gifting’? And what favours have been done or implied in return?

Politically, this is indeed a very bad look for Rudd – particularly coming, as it does, hot on the heels of his lame defence of the policy which allows his ministers AND their staffers to fly first class on the tax-payer’s purse. His argument? “John Howard did it”. Hardly the stuff of social-justice oriented politics for one elected on the wave of a backlash against the self-centredness of ‘Howardism’.

The car dealer at the centre of the controversy clearly doesn’t get it but Kevin Rudd and his strategists should be able to see through their own spin to the potential damage of ongoing perceptions of conflicts of interest and vested interests. They have an opportunity to take the moral high ground and institute genuine reform to help restore public confidence in political institutions. It’s time to “back up the truck”, Kev. And it's time the rest of us started more closely scrutinising what falls off the backs of trucks into our elected representatives laps.    [read more]

Twitter became big news once journalists realised its power as a tool for breaking stories during the Mumbai Massacre in 2008. In the aftermath of the micro-blogging platform hitting the headlines, there was an explosion of professional journalists in the Twittersphere. This growth has been fuelled by increasing mainstream awareness of the importance of social media to the future of a crisis-ridden industry and the elevation of Twitter as a platform for news dissemination, citizen journalism and audience interaction.

So, how are journalists using Twitter? How is the service changing traditional reporting practices? And what (if any) are the rules of engagement with the platform for professional journalists? I interviewed 25 of the journalists I follow on Twitter (most of them Australian with a smattering of South African and U.S. respondents) to find out first-hand.

This is the first instalment in a two-part series written for the US-based PBS website Mediashifton the theme of journalists and Twitter.

Twitter-mania

In Australia, where journalists are literally in a Twittering frenzy, the platform was incorporated into mainstream news coverage of the Black Saturday bushfires which devastated the southern state of Victoria in February. The ABC pioneered the use of the technology during the disaster with impressive results.

(Pic courtesy News Ltd)

And last week, during violent storms and flooding in the states of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), it was evident how embedded Twitter had become as a component of ABC radio's breaking news coverage. Reporters from remote regions through to network stars and even the corporation's "Managing Director":http://twitter.com/abcmarkscott are Tweeting their way into unprecedented public engagement. As Leigh Sales, anchor of the respected nightly news program Lateline told me: "I'm giving Twitter a red hot go."



But as I watched my Twitter-feed flood with news of the deadly storms, I saw something else racing up the trending topics chart: the London industry gathering #media140 called to discuss the role of Twitter in breaking news. Inevitably, the debate canvassed the views of resistors and detractors who argued "Twitter isn't journalism." Sound familiar to veterans of the great blogging vs. journalism debate? Of course Twitter isn't journalism, it's a platform like radio or TV but with unfettered interactivity. However, the act of tweeting can be as journalistic as the act of headline writing. Similarly, the platform can be used for real-time reporting by professional journalists in a manner as kosher as a broadcast news live report.

Evidence of resistance was also broadcast in Australia this month on Radio National's Life Matters. In an program devoted to the impact of social media, host Richard Aedy declared himself a sceptic and said he didn't see the point of platforms like Twitter. He found some support within his audience -- an older, educated, affluent crowd (disclaimer: I'm a regular listener!). But many called the program to describe how social media such as Twitter could be useful social connectors and information sources. While one of his guests (social connection expert @iggypintado)plugged the virtues of Twitter, another, respected veteran science broadcaster Robin Williams dismissed the platform, proudly telling listeners he was very connected and yet didn't even own a mobile phone.

However, the producers invited listeners to participate in the discussion via Twitter and the experiment was a success. Twitter users -- some of whom had never previously heard the program -- tweetedtheir way through it, posting hundreds of comments and making an impression on the sceptical host. I was invited to appear on the next edition of the program to discuss the Twitter political reporting experiment I conducted last September with my students and the emerging role of Twitter in journalism. By that stage, there was less "But isn't it just inane public belly-gazing?" and more "It strikes me this is a little like citizen journalism," which was good to hear as the program's weekly talkback sessions are a natural bridge to social media enhancement and potentially a younger, expanded audience.

Nevertheless, Twitter (in conjunction with other social media platforms) is changing journalism and these changes need to be carefully scrutinised with open minds.

How do journalists identify themselves on Twitter?

Most of the journalists I interviewed tweet openly, acknowledging their professional identity and real name in their personal Twitter page biographies, even if they use an online nickname. Only one locked his account, meaning he had to approve potential followers before they would be able to view his tweets. However, several deliberately withheld the name of their employer to avoid perceived conflicts of interest.

But the themes of trust and credibility, honesty and transparency came up constantly as significant features of successful social media engagement and most of the journalists I interviewed had connected the dots.

"Because I use Twitter to source content (and) find news tips, I think it's best to be open about where I'm coming from," said Gary Kemble, the ABC's Online Opinion Editor. He's also responsible for the broadcaster's @abcnews and @articulate Twitter feeds.

The ABC's national youth affairs correspondent, Michael Turtle agreed.

"I think the very nature of Twitter lends itself towards having an open profile and being honest about who you are," he said. "The power of the site is the ability to connect directly with people and engage in conversations. It wouldn't be nearly as effective if you chose to do that anonymously."



When asked why he tweeted openly, John Grey, online editor of Brisbane's The Courier Mail, said: "Call me wacky, call me weird, but I think people are more likely to have an interactive relationship with a human rather than a bot."

Freelance journalist Rachel Hills acknowledged her upfront tweeting as being consistent with the need for interactivity between the reporter and the audience in the digital age.

"I have adopted this relatively open approach because I view the future of media (or at least the kind of ideas and issues based work that I do as a freelancer) as being about hosting and facilitating conversations -- interacting with the people who care about the work that you do is vital," she said.

However, ABC Adelaide news reader and producer, Jacqui Munn http://www.twitter.com/tohbee reflected the caution that some journalists feel about the merger of the private and the public that occurs in social media spaces like the Twittersphere. She switched from tweeting openly to anonymously once her journalistic identity was revealed.

"I wasn't looking to use it to communicate as a journalist and didn't feel comfortable being judged professionally for just shooting the breeze with friends and other somewhat anonymous acquaintances," Munn said.

How are journalists using Twitter?

Professional journalists are using Twitter to enhance and augment traditional reporting practices. It's another tool in their kit and many journalists, like ABC radio producer Andrew Davies, are now logged onto Twitter throughout their working day.

"I try and start my day by looking at what people are saying (and) talking about on Twitter," he said, "I love being able to read all the fantastic links to interesting websites, ideas (and) news that people have sent out."

Reporters I interviewed are using the platform to "broadcast" links to content they or their news outlet have produced in an effort to build a new audience. Some also contribute to, or manage, organisational Twitter accounts on behalf of their employers. A few use it as a live reporting platform and some employ applications to share images, audio and links to other online content they find interesting. And many are using it to crowdsource contacts, story angles, background and case studies. In fact, when I began researching this story, my first move was to tweet a request for journalists to respond to questions about why they were on Twitter and how they used the platform. I received useful feedback and uncovered a number of new contacts via this method before conducting more extensive online interviews.

The ABC's Michael Turtle uses Twitter regularly to monitor public debate which he acknowledges influences his storytelling.

"It sometimes helps to use Twitter to gauge opinion on an issue," Turtle said. "You would certainly never claim the views online are representative, or seek to pass off a collection of tweets as an accurate poll. But it can point you in the direction of certain views, which can help guide some of the questions you might ask or angles you might follow-up."

Most journalists I interviewed monitor the feeds of sources on their beats as an adjunct to website and email accounts. They check their competition and try to keep up to date with hot industry issues. For some, it's replaced their RSS news feeds and for others it's a way of networking with peers and developing mentors. It's the end-of-day bar debriefing and a reporting tool rolled into one.

Journalists Marketing Themselves

As journalism and entertainment continue to merge, and reporters increasingly become media personalities, image conscious journalists are gaining awareness of Twitter's power as a branding and marketing tool. This is paramount in the mind of the ABC's Leigh Sales who has developed an Australian Twittersphere cult-following with a unique blend of news and wit. She says the jury is still out on the real value of Twitter to her.

"It's hard to see the application for me, given that I only have 1,000 or so followers, yet my program rates around 300k." But she pointed to the potential value of such a following in marketing her books.



However, journalists are also beginning to see the value in using Twitter to interact with their audiences, recognising the inevitable breakdown of old media strictures that separated news producers and receivers and reinforced a top-down approach to media consumption.

"Like other broadcasters and newspapers, we use Twitter to alert others to new stories and to invite feedback -- but we don't believe it should stop there," observed Sky News Australia deputy director of digital news "John Bergin":http://twitter.com/theburgerman). "Our strategy doesn't think of the viewer 'out there' spatially and conceptually. One of the most interesting things about Twitter is that there is no strictly defined audience. Every participant has the same tools to articulate his or her point, to frame an issue, to set an agenda. The space between news producer and news consumer has collapsed. We try to use Twitter as a means of inviting them into the newsroom, asking them what they think, what questions they would like us to ask our guests, and so forth."

Subverting PR and Getting Jobs

Some journalists also reported using Twitter as a means of subverting the increasingly dominant modern PR machine. They said it allowed them to quickly go beyond press releases and official sources, like lobby groups and politicians, by interacting with followers who provided alternative perspectives, useful background and sometimes crucial facts in a story.



Finally, the journalists I interviewed mentioned the role of Twitter as a sort of media job agency. The Sydney Star Observer's Harley Dennett highlighted the value of networking with senior journalists and editors at major Australian publications on Twitter.

"I comment on news of the day hoping potential future employers will notice how witty and informed I am," he said.

This strategy worked for one U.S. college graduate. After initially failing to make an impression via email, Ashley Reynolds direct-messaged (DMing as it's known involves sending a private message to one of your followers through Twitter) the News Director at WYMT TV in Hazard, Kentucky. It worked. He replied via Twitter, set up an interview and she's about to start work as a reporter on his news team.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who contacted him through Twitter, so I really stood out," she said. "With direct message you have to sell yourself in 140 characters. So in order to sell myself I had to be short, sharp, and simple."

Breaking news in Twitter

In addition to using Twitter to monitor breaking news -- like a mini wire service with public participation -- and for the dissemination of breaking news, the ABC has also assigned reporters to live-tweet events, such as the Queensland state election this March. And there are plans to expand Twitter-based special events coverage.

Some of the reporters I interviewed pointed to the value of Twittersearch -- a function which allows users to search on specific terms or phrases which are often grouped by relevant hashtags -- to easily monitor community reporting of major breaking news. They also pointed to recent moves by public officials to release news via Twitter ahead of issuing press releases or staging media conferences. This means Twitter is being used not only as a place to cover and monitor breaking news, but also a place for sources to break news.

But the public is less likely to trust news broken on Twitter than that which is delivered via traditional news outlets, according to Harley Dennett, who says audiences still attach credibility to detail, as he discovered when he recently broke a story on Twitter about the closure of the Federal Magistrate's Court in Sydney.

"Sometimes people don't believe me when I reveal something on Twitter before the full story, with supporting quotes and documentation, comes out in print or online," he said. "It's hard to prove something in 140 characters when there's nothing to link."

Journalists would be wise to exercise similar caution, as two stories from Sydney this past fortnight demonstrate. In the first instance, a journalist writing for the online publication Crikey attacked Sydney Morning Herald technology reporter, Asher Moses (who did not respond to a request for an interview) for inappropriate tweeting. Crikey later apologised when it was revealed that some of the offending tweets actually came from a fake Twitter account

In the second incident, it was revealed that a marketing company had been tweeting under the guise of the NSW Police Service about policies and crime in a social media experiment inspired by Barack Obama's use of Twitter in his 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. The @nswpolice Twitter account had attracted 2,000 followers and forced a disgruntled police media unit to tweet under another handle before Twitter shut down the imposter site.

In the next instalment of this two part series on journalists' engagement with Twitter, I'll look at the implications of the clash between the personal and the public in the Twittersphere along with the regulation of reporters' tweeting by their employers and the ways in which Twitter is altering traditional practice. I'll also provide a list of tips for journalists starting out on Twitter, crowdsourced from those already active in the space.

View this post as it originally appeared on Mediashift and leave comments here    [read more]

This is the third part of a continuing J-Scribe series on my problematic pregnancy. See Reborn Part 1 & Reborn Part 2

It was an agonisingly long week between the onset of the threatened miscarriage and the appointment with the obstetrician which would deliver the news about our baby’s ability to endure. But it was news worth waiting for.

-----Original Message-----
From: Julie.Posetti
Sent: Monday, 23 February 2009 5:24 PM
To: Julie Posetti
Subject: Good news!

Dear family & friends,

Newsflash: our baby has survived the 'threatened miscarriage'! :o))

S/he was kicking and squirming on the ultrasound today and the heartbeat
was strong. Sometimes miracles do happen :o)

I'm feeling a little better today, too, after a truly awful week with
several bleeding episodes and extreme fatigue pinning me to the couch
(when my mother wasn't! :o)

The obstetrician says this is the best outcome we could have hoped for.
Now it's about prayers, entreaties & crossed fingers, legs etc in the
hope that the threatened miscarriage stays at bay & the baby continues to
thrive for the next few weeks.

If the baby behaves itself, I have an appointment in a month at the Foetal Medicine Unit (FMU) at the Canberra Hospital and they will do another diagnostic scan with a view to getting a more predictive reading on the baby's health

They may be able to detect issues with the placenta that point, too,
but they won't manifest (beyond posing a continuing miscarriage threat)
until the 6-7 month mark in the form of retarded growth, likely
precipitating a premature birth. Yep, this will continue to be a
high-risk pregnancy...but as long as it does continue and a healthy baby
is ultimately delivered it will be a risk worth enduring.

So, now I just have to continue to follow doctor's orders: rest, recover
& avoid stress for the next fortnight to keep the baby hanging in there.

To that end: The Sound of Music will be screening on our TV tonight
after the Oscars frock fest :)

Thanks for all the love and support you've sent our way over the past
week. It's been touching and valuable to us. Please keep it coming
during the long journey ahead!

Love,

Julie & Tim

In the weeks that followed, I found the couch-sentence frustrating but I was rendered so exhausted by the threatened miscarriage symptoms I could do little more than complain quietly. And the stress was palpable.

Everytime I stood up or pottered about the house the bleeding would recommence. And that was so frightening...I was afraid to use the toilet...terrified of miscarrying at home alone. My mother came to stay to help ease the burden and satisfy my cravings for comforting dollops of carbohydrates...all I wanted was pasta, polenta and potato...and a lot of sleep.

Annoyingly, people kept telling me to “just chill, downtime is a luxury”. As I wrote to a friend, “I’m trying to view the enforced ‘relaxation’ as a ‘luxury’ but that’s really a bit delusional…nothing relaxing or luxurious about a threatened miscarriage which, apart from being very frightening, leaves you too physically & emotionally exhausted to do anything deep or productive with the downtime (I’ve even tried unsuccessfully to blog) but not sick enough to avoid being frustrated by being pinned down. And, every time I start feeling optimistic & think I’ve turned a corner I start bleeding again, as I did this morning, so…”

But as each day passed and the baby clung to life, hope grew and the stress surrounding my pregnancy slowly began to ease. On the bright side, the threatened miscarriage was a significant distraction from the lingering threat of chromosomal abnormality.

I found another distraction in my DVD collection. Much to my partner’s amusement and barely-masked frustration, I managed to remain couch-bound for seven whole series of the US comedy/drama “Gilmore Girls”…160 episodes watched back-to-back.



The time dragged as quickly as it could to the next ultrasound appointment the following week.

-----Original Message-----
From: Julie.Posetti [mailto:Julie.Posetti@canberra.edu.au]
Sent: 10 March 2009 03:05 PM
To: Julie.Posetti; tim@enigmacreativemedia.com.au
Subject: Update from the Couch

Dear family and friends,

Good news from the couch.

The baby is still doing well - s/he was seen kicking, 'talking on the
phone', waving and rubbing eyes on ultrasound today - and the mother finally
appears to be on the improve!

After another scare, which prolonged the threatened miscarriage diagnosis,
my couch-sentence was extended last week by a fortnight and, despite my
dislike of idleness and isolation, it seems to have helped. I'm still
utterly exhausted and not good for any sort of mental engagement cleverer
than a 'knock-knock' joke, but at least I've managed to re-activate my sense
of humour! :o)

At the end of next week, I have a very detailed scan and possibly other
diagnostic tests with the Prof of Fetal Medicine here in an effort to
determine the baby's health as there are significant concerns about
chromosomal abnormalities and the state of the placenta. The next hurdle.

Thanks to all those of you who've offered much appreciated care and support
over the past few weeks. It's been really valued. Please keep it coming!

Much love,

Julie, Tim and the precious cargo.

By the end of March I found reassurance outside the doctor’s rooms. “I started feeling her move inside me - the most mind-blowing sensation!” I wrote to a friend. But there was the lingering anxiety surrounding the high risk of birth defects which would be tested at the FMU the following week. And the sudden, inexplicable death of our horse, Dancer two days after the photo below was taken to celebrate the baby's survival, bringing grief back to our doorstep.



But there was happiness on the horizon.

-----Original Message-----
From: Julie.Posetti
Sent: Thu 02/04/2009 11:07 PM
To: Julie.Posetti
Subject: Baby, baby!


Dear family & friends,

Happy, happy news! After surviving a threatened miscarriage, our baby has defied predictions of serious genetic disorders and was today declared by the medicos to be developing “perfectly”!

Feisty and resilient (s/he gets that from her Mum :o), s/he bounced around on ultrasound @ the Fetal Medicine Unit (FMU) in Canberra today, showing off his/her apparently well-functioning brain, heart, kidneys etc and revealing a healthy growth spurt since his/her last cinematic performance a fortnight ago. Today's 4D scan was designed to detect abnormalities, indicated by earlier tests, which should be clearly apparent @ this stage of the baby's development.

But this baby appears to be thriving! S/he has a head which is way above average in size (to accommodate all those brains, which s/he inherited from his/her mother, who is writing this missive in case you hadn’t realised :o) but his/her little legs are a tad shorter than average (surprise!).

19 weeks on Monday and halfway home, s/he still has a long way to go, and his/her growth will continue to be monitored very closely with regular scans @ the FMU and weekly visits to see his/her fabulous obstetrician. This is because blood tests still indicate a likely problem with the placenta, which is expected to retard his/her growth later in the pregnancy and poses a risk for premature birth.

I’m (Julie) gradually feeling stronger (not to mention excited & relieved by the bambina/o’s progress!) after my frustrating but edifying couch sojourn. But it will be a while before ‘Superwoman’ is back in action!

Meantime, please keep those prayers etc coming, cross those fingers (or hold/squeeze those thumbs as the South Africans & Germans among you are wont to do!) and maintain those good vibrations! We really appreciate your love, care and cheer-leading – it’s helped us get this far!

Lots of love,

Julie, Tim and the Precious Cargo.

PS Yes, we know the sex, but no, we're not telling yet - although the androgynous identification is getting boring, so the cat is likely to leave the bag soon!



While question marks lingered around our baby’s future, by mid-April hope began to seed and I began to embrace the pregnancy more confidently. I wrote to a friend “…the bambina is going wild with the womb-dancing which is very comforting - although I'm sure that sensation will become more painful with time! Still having to moderate my activity & learning (again!) to pay attention to this battered old body's warning signals to slow down...not an easy achievement for moi, but easier to manage with another life dependent upon my behaviour to an extent!”

And there were moments of joy and even hilarity as I continued to improve and started venturing out into public more regularly. I reported to a friend at the time via email: “…despite a high stress morning yesterday, I was Zenned out enough by early afternoon to leave my laptop in a public loo (since retrieved thank goodness!) and prance around a busy city shopping centre, smiling at those who were staring at me (cos I’m such a 'hawt' preggers chick, I thought :o), without realising my skirt was tucked into my stockings!! Oblivious was I, till a woman rushed up to me in hushed tones to alert me. But even this major fashion faux pas failed to faze me and I just laughed & made a quip about providing the shoppers with another kind of stimulus package. See, veeeery chilled :o)”

The idea that we may actually soon have to bring a tiny human-being into our chaotic lives had finally dawned. And then the nesting began in earnest.

I put friends & family to good use in farmhouse working bees: “*Whip, whip!* So loving being the foreperson…this‘complicated’ preggers status definitely has its upsides…Have also resurrected the bassinet I slumbered in as a bambina but the Numero Uno Feline has decided to take up residence within (picture mother-in-law’s panicked expression here :o)”



In an episode worthy of “Changing Rooms” we shunted the study to the back of the house to make room for the baby and began culling 20 years worth of accumulated crap. Quite why I’d hung onto a fluorescent pink “Wham” t-shirt from 1983 I don’t know, but I was now ready to consign it to the bin. However, I quickly realised that for every item I disposed of there was a piece of baby-accoutrement waiting to take its place.

I simply couldn’t resist foraging for cute baby gear that looked barely big enough to
dress a doll in. Socks for newborns which, when rolled up, are the size of a cotton ball, are up there with the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. But that could be hormones talking.

And those hormones continue to talk in more ways than one. Ongoing morning sickness means I still greet every day at the sink. Small price to pay for a healthy baby I keep telling myself as involuntary tears run down my cheeks.

I joke about becoming ‘larger than life’ but how could I resent the impact this baby is having on my body?

Ahead of the next FMU growth scan I wrote to a friend last week: “The bambina is now very active. If you were to put your hand on my belly right now, you could feel her kicking and dancing. Experiencing that sensation internally is simply extraordinary. Like tiny punches, electrical impulses, breath-taking jabs of love. Like life summoning you.” I’m convinced that if men were able to experience this they would have figured out how to do pregnancy ahead of harvesting stem cells and mapping genomes.

-----Original Message-----
From: Julie.Posetti
Sent: Fri 15/05/2009 7:17 PM
To: Julie Posetti
Subject: News from the Baby-zone

Dear family & friends,

Our little girl (yes, she’s a gal, in case you missed the newsflash) is continuing to impress her parents and the medicos by defying negative predictions and developing “perfectly” inside her mummy’s womb.

The docs say she is 'bang-on' normal growth targets for her age (25 weeks on Monday) and they’ve indicated that while there are no guarantees, they would be "very, very surprised" if she was born with either of the deadly genetic defects she was threatened with.

They’ll continue to closely monitor her growth in the knowledge that there may be other issues which could affect her development in the coming weeks and precipitate a premature birth. But she seems pretty determined to enter the world - despite the meltdown of the human race. And we feel increasingly confident she’ll make it.

She put on a cheeky performance on the ultrasound @ the Foetal Medicine Unit on Thursday, displaying her bottom with the confidence of a burlesque dancer. But she was very shy about revealing her face, preferring instead to cover her smile with the feet she was fascinated by.

Her mummy is ‘blooming’ at speed, reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Aunt Marge when she floated above Little Whinging, propelled by hyper-inflation. But, apart from the usual problems & continuing morning sickness, the pregnancy is progressing well. Nevertheless, mindful of the ongoing risks and the difficult path to this point, the docs have restricted her to working from home for the duration of the semester. She’s enjoying the mental stimulation and nesting like a … (pick an industrious, sentimental bird)

Thanks again for your continuing prayers, finger-crossing, thumb-holding, love and concern. Please keep it coming as the countdown continues!

Much love,

Julie, Tim and The Bambina



As I write this my little girl is kicking me in the belly and signalling her hunger to me…I imagine her like a tiny belly dancer, quaffing Turkish Delight and clapping her hands with delight every time she hears the dog bark.

She turns 26 weeks on Monday. Her next scan at the Canberra FMU is at 30 weeks.

The Bambina is due the week of the first anniversary of my grandmother’s death. Grandma never gave up praying I’d have a living, healthy baby and I sometimes feel like she’s urging this little girl inside me to the finish line. That’s the sort of tenacity Grandma would have showed in the womb. Her granddaughter inherited that fighting spirit and it seems her great-granddaughter has too.    [read more]

This is a continuation of a series of posts on my problematic pregnancy against a backdrop of recurrent miscarriage. Please share the journey with me. (Read Reborn Part 1 first)

When the Fetal Medicine Unit doctor called us in to his rooms, looking apprehensive and clutching test results in his hand, we knew something wasn’t right.

The results were from sophisticated blood tests which form the second component of the Nuchal Translucency Screening Tests. They’re correlated with the ultrasound results and background risks, such as age and obstetric history, to produce more accurate readings for significant birth defects.

Firstly, he pointed to the very low risk recorded for Down’s Syndrome (Trisomy 21) considering my age (1:1341), but it was clear that wasn’t the end of the story.


Running his finger down the adjacent column of results, he lowered his voice, saying “But you have a very significant risk - 1:16 - of carrying a baby with Trisomy 18 and also worrying is the 1:74 risk of Trisomy 13”. Neither my partner nor I knew what either of these lesser known syndromes entailed but it was obvious from the look on the doctor’s face that both were more grave than Down’s. Apparently I had a low reading of a 'maternal serum marker' labelled PAPP-A…whatever that meant. I felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. Like I’d free-fallen from a great height.

He began talking about options. My concentration faded in and out. I could opt to have an amniocentesis there and then or I could wait a week and return for the test. Or, I could choose to do nothing and monitor the baby’s growth and development until 20 weeks. But after that point, termination wasn’t an option. Perhaps, he said, there might not be a problem with the baby at all – the tests results could be indicative of the underlying issues connected to my history of miscarriage which may have been affecting the development of the placenta. But this would place me at risk of late term miscarriage, premature birth & low birth weight.

I decided against having an amniocentesis on the spot without too much hesitation. There is a significant risk of miscarriage associated with this test, which involves extracting amniotic fluid from the sac for definitive genetic testing. The purpose of the test is to give the mother the necessary information to make a decision about an abortion where birth defects are suspected. And as I wrote to a friend later that night, “Today I chose to wait and live in hope. Couldn't bring myself to put the baby at risk. And I really don't know if I could choose to abort a baby I am now so bonded to at any rate – especially considering my history of miscarriage.”

The Survival Plan

So we made a plan with the FMU specialist to have another high-level diagnostic scan at 18 weeks. The hope was that the scan would discount the bad blood tests by showing a baby continuing to thrive. A still active baby viewed at 18 weeks with an examination of vital organs, facial features, skeletal structure, on target growth etc, indicating 'normal' development, would provide reasonable confidence that the baby had defied the risks with regular scans thereafter to track ongoing development. But if the scan results were poor, they'd recommend I have an amniocentesis. And if those results confirmed one of the suspected syndromes, I'd then have to make a decision about a late abortion.



When I got home I felt like I was in a bad dream but rather than curl up on the couch I began voraciously researching Trisomy 18 and 13 – knowledge is power to a journalist and research is a coping mechanism for me.

According to Dr Google, both of these chromosomal abnormalities manifest horrendously…much worse than Downs'. Characteristics include severe mental retardation and very serious defects involving the heart, kidneys and other organs along with additional physical symptoms. But worse, most babies with these conditions don't survive to term or are stillborn. And of those who survive birth, 50% and 80 % respectively die within 7-42 days, although a handful have lived up to the age of 10 with significant medical intervention.

Before I went to bed, I wrote to a friend “As I'm sure you can imagine, this is a pretty awful experience…I was so looking forward to being unreservedly, publicly joyful about this pregnancy. And now I have an agonising 6-week wait before I know more. And a building sense of premature grief as a large question-mark clouds the baby's future. Why, for once, couldn't things just be 'easy'? I realise that sounds self-centred and plenty of others are worse off…but don't I deserve a break from the universe…some genuine, unadulterated pleasure?”

“I really am trying to focus on the positive. And, from the 'happy thoughts' annals, a 1:16 chance of having a baby with one of these conditions – a rate 20 times higher than other women my age who already face elevated risk - is still a 15:16 chance that it won't be affected. And I'm holding onto the anecdotal wisdom that a baby on-target in terms of growth at 12 weeks, who appears very active on ultrasound, is a good indicator of one who'll ultimately thrive and arrive healthy… How could I not live in hope that this little human being is meant to survive and make a stellar contribution to human kind whatever her capacities?”

I eventually drifted into sleep, worried about the decision that lay ahead regarding the amniocentesis and praying for a healthy baby.

But I woke up to a nightmare.

Threatened Miscarriage

Feeling feverish, crampy and wet, I touched my thighs and was alarmed to feel liquid. I sat bolt upright and threw the covers back to find sheets covered in blood. “No!!” I cried. “I’m bleeding!” My partner jolted awake and sat speechless on the bed while I angrily blinked back tears. “Not again!” I stuttered. It was 7am and we didn’t know what to do. There was no way I was going to a hospital emergency room after previous scarring experiences of mistreatment in the midst of miscarriage. Instead, I lay back down and, despite passing blood clots, I prayed the bleeding would stop. At 8.30am we got in the car and drove to the obstetrician’s, alerting the surgery before we arrived.

I sat in the waiting room surrounding by pregnant women with babies and small children in tow. It was a harrowing wait. I could no longer stem the tears but just hoped I could stop my quivering bottom lip from progressing to a state of full-blown, heaving sobbing. My obstetrician ushered me into her office next. She tried to prepare me for bad news on the ultrasound…I was oblivious – I just wanted to see my baby.

But I couldn’t look at the ultrasound screen until I heard her say, after a few moments’ hesitation, “She’s OK. There’s her heartbeat”. The baby was lethargic but her heartbeat was strong. We still didn’t know the baby’s gender but the obstetrician had concluded she was a girl “Girls are tougher, they’re survivors", she said.

While seeing my living baby was extraordinarily reassuring, I was now officially in the grip of another 'threatened miscarriage'. The obstetrician surmised that the cause of the bleeding could either be a very ill baby in the process of miscarrying or a poorly formed/functioning placenta which could also trigger miscarriage but may be 'survivable' if the bleeding stopped.

I narrowly escaped hospital admission on the condition I agree to three weeks' bed rest at home and to "avoid stress at all costs". But, if the situation deteriorated further, I was warned I’d inevitably wind up in hospital. Unfortunately there was nothing else I or the medicos could do at that point but 'wait & see'. An incredibly frustrating treatment plan. The hope was that the bleeding would abate and the baby would recover…but the chances were not brilliant. Nevertheless, I continued to hope – in the context of reality.

Admitting I Needed Support

As I wrote to a friend that night, my biggest underlying fear was grief: “I don't know if I can withstand more loss in the form of another miscarriage. Yes, I'm strong and resilient and I have survived much and thrived in the aftermath...but I'm only human. That said...deep down I seem to know I'll somehow find the strength to keep walking independently no matter what happens. But this is definitely one of those times where I have to concede I need help in the form of care & support from others.”

In the grip of this crisis, my partner withdrew emotionally and he wanted to keep the pregnancy quiet until the 18 week scan - assuming I didn’t miscarry the baby. These were very trying times. But I was already ‘showing’ and it would be beyond obvious that I was pregnant at 18 weeks. Besides, I really needed the outside support now that things had grown so difficult. So, I broadcast the news to an extended network of friends and family via email.



“Everyone keeps telling me how strong I am...strange...I feel weak, afraid & exposed. But I do seem to have relocated my funny bone, which is probably a good sign,” I wrote to a friend as I lay on my couch a few days later, so exhausted – emotionally and physically that I could do no more than watch Harry Potter DVDs.

On February 19th I wrote: “The bleeding has escalated again & it's just shattering :( Why isn't it stopping? Is the baby OK? It's awful to feel so out of control of your own body when another life is dependent upon it.”

We would have to wait until the following Monday – the next scheduled obstetrician’s visit - to discover whether or not the baby had survived the ordeal.    [read more]

The Bambina @ 12 weeks


She kicks me in the guts and I feel only love.

It’s been a long, painful journey to motherhood for me. At 38 and with a history of recurrent miscarriage I’d almost resigned myself to childlessness. But now I’m eagerly awaiting the delivery of my baby girl.

The Bambina, as I’ve called her since she was just the size of a peanut and her gender was indeterminate, is now 25 weeks old and will be a resident of my womb until August.

Last November, 15 months after my last miscarriage – a perfect little boy who died inexplicably at 11 weeks in utero – I went to see a fertility specialist to progress inquiries into the cause of my previous three miscarriages. I’d put it off as long as I could. I still wasn’t sure I could risk the pain of another pregnancy loss but the doctor was upfront: “It’s now or quite possibly never.” This was because of my partner’s low fertility due to cancer treatment and my ‘advanced maternal age’ in conjunction with my history of miscarriage. IVF would be required to get results quickly. First, though, I would undergo surgery in an effort to identify possible causes of miscarriage.

I left the specialist with my partner, feeling like I no longer had options – to choose to do nothing now would probably deny me a choice down the track. So, we agreed uneasily to ‘throw it up to God’.

Beating IVF

In mid-December I underwent investigative surgery and, amidst extreme work-related stress, I began to prepare mentally for commencement of IVF in January. Part of that ‘preparation’ involved immersion in an alcoholic haze over Christmas. But the day after Boxing Day I awoke feeling queezy…breasts tender…period late. I joined the dots and the ‘piddle-stick’ confirmed the result: these symptoms weren’t just the product of stress and exhaustion, I was pregnant! Fear and excitement merged and stole my breath. I summoned my partner and we sat staring at that stick in disbelief. Then we laughed, acknowledging our earlier decision to ‘throw it up to God’.

My first instinct was to consult the medicos…I needed to know what the surgery had uncovered. I was 5 weeks pregnant and I lost my first baby at 6 weeks, the second at 8 weeks and the third at 11 weeks. But this was the period between Christmas and New Year and my fertility specialist, my obstetrician and my GP were all on holidays. Limbo.

Not content to sit back and wait, though, my partner tracked down a nurse at the fertility centre where we were tentatively enrolled and she bridged the gap. She contacted the holidaying specialist who confirmed that the surgery and associated tests had uncovered possible causes of my previous miscarriages. I had a high level of ‘Natural Killer’ cells in my uterus along with the presence of cardiolipin antibodies and phospholipid antibodies. Both of these factors have been linked in research to multiple miscarriages during the first trimester. It’s believed they inhibit the implantation and growth of the embryo and may cause an immune-system triggered rejection of the baby. It was a terrible thought to confront: my own body may have effectively killed my babies...

I was then was sent for blood tests which indicated hormone levels consistent with a normally progressing early pregnancy and I booked in for an ultrasound to establish the viability of the pregnancy. I felt physically ill in the lead-up to that ultrasound appointment – I was desperate to see my baby’s beating heart on that screen. These scans had ended in heartache in previous pregnancies on all but one occasion. A heartbeat was detected at 6 weeks during a threatened miscarriage with my last pregnancy, but at 12 weeks a follow-up ultrasound revealed my baby had died in the interim.

Scanning For Life

So, as I lay on the clinic bed this time around, with a stomach covered in ultrasound gel, I stared at the monitor, holding my breath. The radiographer was too quiet for my liking and my partner & I shared pained expressions as he squeezed my hand. But after what seemed like an interminable period, she said “Can you see that flashing light? That’s your baby’s heartbeat”. She brought up a graphic representation of the heartbeat and told us it was a very healthy 180 beats per minute. I wanted to cry with relief but apprehension about the ongoing risk of miscarriage, and having previously miscarried after seeing such a heartbeat despite a 95% chance the baby would progress to term, self-preservation instincts kicked in and I suppressed the excitement…I needed to be emotionally cautious. This proved a wise move. The radiologist who analysed the scans reported that the heart-rate was actually 118, not 180 and this was marginally below what’s considered ‘normal’. Nevertheless, he declared the pregnancy viable at six weeks.

I was then prescribed daily injections of a drug called Clexane (a blood thinner and immune system suppressor) to address the underlying problems identified in the IVF work-up, while I waited nervously to see a specialist at the conclusion of the holiday hiatus.

Face Down on the Bathroom Floor

But a few days after I began this treatment, feeling very ill, I hovered over a glass bowl on the edge of my bath. Moments later I was passed out, face down on the tiled bathroom floor…lying naked in a pile of shattered glass. As my panicked partner tried to rouse me, I felt myself fitting as I came to – tongue clenched between teeth and my leg kicking involuntarily. This was a very scary experience but all I could think was “Is the baby OK?” As my partner patched up the cuts that covered the left side of my body, I feared the worst.

I was instructed by the IVF nurse to go straight to Emergency at Canberra Hospital if I fainted or fitted again and to see my GP ASAP. Thankfully, my bathroom performance had no encore but I had to wait three more days before my GP’s surgery reopened. When I finally saw her, she did some routine tests and deduced that the episode was probably a virus or the product of a blood pressure spike. The baby would not have been affected.

I gradually began telling my closest relatives and friends about the pregnancy during this period, having decided I would need the support if anything did go wrong and wanting to celebrate the news quietly with them – it was important to validate the life of our baby in the hearts and minds of the people I love most. Also, as I wrote to a trusted friend at the time “Geez, I'm a journalist and I have a human being growing inside me - hard to embargo that kind of yarn!” There was an appropriate mixture of joy and apprehension from those I shared the news with and it was comforting to know they were variously thinking of us, praying for us and begging the universe to intervene on our behalf.

Specialist Intervention

In mid-January, I finally got in to see my IVF specialist who confirmed previous test results and explained that I’d be on the daily injections until I was 14-20 weeks pregnant. Injected into my stomach, these needles were not the highlight of my day but I was grateful for any kind of medical intervention that might lead to a sustainable pregnancy. However, she gaped when I told her that I was pregnant at the time of the exploratory surgery. “No, you couldn’t have been!” she said, pushing her chair back from the desk. “You do the maths", I thought. “That’s the stuff of my worst nightmares”, she said “...operating on someone who is pregnant and possibly accidentally aborting the baby”.

Poor woman looked like she may fall off her chair. So, I said “Not to worry, ‘she’ has so far survived a surgeon’s invasion and a scary fitting episode after being conceived amidst extreme stress, with the assistance of that excellent relaxant called champagne. It’s OK”. And, as I wrote to a friend at the time, “...there's something encouragingly cheeky and determined (s/he clearly gets that from moi :) about a baby who pre-empts IVF...and survives a surgeon’s knife that bodes well for this pregnancy. So, I am taking a leaf out of Obama's book and having the audacity to hope.”

By the end of the month I’d seen my obstetrician who, while very excited for me after helping me through my last miscarriage, was keen to monitor the pregnancy very closely due to its high-risk nature. So, I saw her weekly from thereon in and eagerly but nervously looked forward to greeting my baby on the ultrasound screen at each visit. Although a consequence of a problematic pregnancy, this was a rare privilege. Seeing her heart beat and watching the incredible pace of her growth week-to-week cemented the bonding I’d subtly resisted out of fear. I fell in love with my baby during this period, conscious that if she was lost to me, devastation would be eclipsed.

I was referred to the specialist Foetal Medicine Unit (FMU) at Canberra hospital for assessment and a diagnostic scan at 12 weeks and we decided to go ‘public’ with the news after that appointment, based on the conventional wisdom that miscarriage risk declines significantly after that point. Gradually, I began to relax into the pregnancy and hope started to supplant fear.

Perfect Baby

So, in mid-February, in the grip of conflated excitement and anxiety, we visited the FMU for the long-awaited 12 week scan. The friendly but professional medico appreciated our anxiety and immediately reassured us that our baby was alive and kicking – quite literally! It was extraordinary to watch her body being mapped on 4D ultrasound. She no longer resembled a peanut or a jelly-bean – she now looked like a miniature human-being, albeit an oddly proportioned one. Arms, legs, fingers and toes, distinctive facial features and already in possession of some fairly impressive dance moves. The ultrasound operator acknowledged all of these observations as excellent signs, consistent with normal development, and confirmed this with a crucial measurement – the depth of the Nuchal Fold, a pocket of fluid located at the back of a foetus’ neck which indicates the likelihood of Down’s Syndrome. My age put me at significant risk of having a Down's baby but the radiographer declared: “that measurement is perfect”. The baby’s major organs also appeared to be developing “perfectly”, she said. I couldn’t wipe the wide smile off my face and I allowed my heart to leap unfettered for the first time during the pregnancy.

We left the ultrasound room to await our appointment with the FMU specialist, feeling confident and relieved. But bad news was lurking just around the corner    [read more]