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When news broke on Monday morning that a woman had gone missing, our team was on it straight away.
Victoria Police had issued a media alert, appealing for help to find Samantha Murphy.
The unique factor was she was a local mother-of-three, who hadn't returned from her morning run, 24 hours earlier.
Missing persons cases are fairly common and they come and go. But it's been a long time since Ballarat has had a case that's stopped the community in its tracks and attracted media coverage from around the world.
The Courier sent reporters and a photographer to Buninyong Police Station, which became the key staging area for emergency crews, volunteers and media over the course of the week.
Police and SES mapped search areas and crews were brought in from around the state.
Over the coming days, we watched as thousands of volunteers and emergency service personnnel descended on the city.
We saw metro media crews come and go, as the story gained national attention.
At the start, there were two key search areas. The first was near Black Hill and Wallaby Track, a popular area for local runners. The second area focused to the east of Geelong Road, through to Buninyong and the back of Buninyong Golf Club.
As the days went on, the search area changed, becoming one key area - largely around the vicinity of the Woowookarung Regional Park in Canadian, not far from Samantha Murphy's home.
It's an asset when you have experienced people among your news team in times like this. The Courier's veteran news photographer Lachlan Bence, who has close to 40 years experience under his belt in Ballarat, knows the area inside out. That was vital this week when working out which areas were the most accessible. It was also great guidance to our journalists Nieve Walton and Bryan Hoadley. Photographers Kate Healy and Adam Trafford spent days following emergency crews around, sending photos back to the newsroom for our live coverage.
In a case like this, where the community is looking for the latest information, the media needs to provide regular update as the search unfolds.
We set up our rolling, live coverage.
Our key public information on Sam Murphy was free to read, as police issued pleas for information. We also shared the key search areas that had been posted at Buninyong Police Station.
Our team on the scene, Nieve and Bryan, filed updates back to the newsroom and filmed pieces to camera. These were quickly published across The Courier's Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Threads accounts. We sent breaking news alerts via email and regular notifications on our app. We wanted to get this story out wherever people access their news and information.
Later in the week, we live-streamed police press conferences. By this stage, thousands of people had volunteered and many more had joined local Facebook groups dedicated to the search. People were invested in finding Sam.
There were key pivotal points in the week we thought would provide clues. One was when police cordoned off an area in the bush while they investigated items found. The other was CCTV footage released that claimed to show Samantha running. Both were found to be irrelevant to the investigation.
As the weekend drew nearer, people waited for a change in tactic. Emergency crews had scoured extensive bushland and police were investigating all avenues. By Friday, they announced Missing Persons Squad detectives would take over the case and scale the search back for the weekend.
Today marks a week since Samantha Murphy was last seen. We are still no closer to knowing what happened to her.
Police say they aren't cutting back on the search but now need specialist resources.
As a local news outlet, our journalists are trained to report on the facts. We report on the information we receive from official emergency organisations (Victoria Police and the SES, in this instance) and those on the ground. Our reporters are at the scene to monitor, observe and ask questions, without hindering the investigation. Our job is to present news that is reliable and trustworthy; which makes us a reputable news outlet.
In an era of misinformation, this is more important than ever.
The Courier will continue to be at the forefront of the Samantha Murphy story as the search goes on.
Thank you for your support.
- Emily Sweet
Acting managing editor.