Jessica Rowe AM has championed the value of journalism in an era where not everything on social media can be trusted.
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In Dubbo on Tuesday, the journalist, TV presenter and author spoke out strongly for the profession.
Speaking to the Daily Liberal, Rowe said journalism was "more important than ever".
"I think there is increasing pressure on the need for a free and fair press," she said.
"I think what's exciting about social media is that there are more and more voices but sometimes we have to be mindful of where those voices are coming from and what their sources are.
"And my concern sometimes is that you will just see things in your feed that you agree with versus things that might challenge you or make you think 'that's not quite right'.
"So now I think more than ever journalism is so important."
A household name for her roles including co-host of Studio 10 and the Today Show and a decade-long stint as co-host of Network 10's First at Five news, Rowe shared her approach to journalism.
"For me though, I've always thought about it as being storytelling, telling people's stories and giving people a voice, giving the voiceless a voice," she said.
A short time later Australian Associated Press issued the shock announcement it would close AAP Newswire after 85 years.
The company cites the unprecedented impact of digital platforms that take other people's content and distribute it for free, leading to too many companies choosing to no longer use the service.
The decision spells significant job losses and AAP CEO Bruce Davidson said the closure was an extremely sad day for Australian journalism.
A graduate of Charles Sturt University, Rowe said choosing to study communications at its Bathurst campus had been pivotal to her career because it paved the way for other "leaps of faith".
"I loved Bathurst, I loved it," she said.
"I'm a city girl, I grew up in Sydney, I'd never really spent much time in the country, apart from visiting relatives and family friends who were in Mudgee and then also in Nowra on the South Coast of NSW, but I was very unfamiliar with Bathurst.
"Initially was nervous about what it would be like to move to a country town, but it's the best thing I could have done because taking that step paved the way for other sorts of leaps of faith that I made in career and life.
"And Bathurst was just wonderful, I don't think I would have had the career that I've had if I hadn't have made that first initial move to say, you know what, you can move cities, go somewhere where you don't know anyone, you can do it."