Behind the Byline: Meet Rex Martinich, our politics and data reporter

He got into journalism because he relished the challenge of trying to make complicated issues and events more understandable to readers.

If you have a story for Rex, get in touch by emailing rex.martinich@dailyadvertiser.com.au.

Coffee, spreadsheets and records from parliament.

I like writing and explaining things to people. I enjoy getting complex information and distilling it down into what matters to people.

Stories about people, particularly in the medical field, who have been accused of malpractice, are difficult. Particularly as medical professionals are highly regarded in regional areas. If you do a story, you can get a lot of push back with people saying you will leave the region without the resources. On the other hand, if there is compelling evidence, then you have to report the facts.

You have to stay focused on the result. It is a daily miracle getting a newspaper out, and that cannot happen unless everybody does their part.

You can't just throw up your hands and leave if it gets hard.

This story came about by going through a Department of Defence report on how much MPs and senators had been spending on flights using RAAF private jets. It was a lot of work to manually type out the numbers from a lengthy scanned document but it enabled me to create an animated and interactive map of all the flights taken by Riverina MP Michael McCormack. It was an example of taking a very dry and boring document and turning it into a story that got a big reaction online.

This story is from my time in Victoria. I was the first to report on a protest camp and blockade being set up by Aboriginal groups to prevent trees they believed to be sacred from being cut down for a highway duplication project. The residents of the small rural city where I was working were grateful to see their issues being published on a national platform.

This story ended up garnering national attention due to a mayor's sheer nerve to suggest she could stay in office despite moving 2600 kilometres north for a new job at Mount Isa. The story involved getting exclusive photos and live blogging from a closely watched council meeting where the mayor was confronted by ratepayers and other councillors.

All of us are trying to get it right and tell the best story we can. We are not on anyone's side. Sometimes we might get things wrong, but we are trying our best.

We want to see readers who are more entertained or more informed from having read our content. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

I am on the relatively new round of data which is looking at ways we can condense numbers and statistics from the Riverina to inspire stories about the region.

It's just not doing an article on figures, but using them to guide us to what we should be looking at.

My second round is state and federal politics, so reporting on what is happening and what politicians are doing or how they are reacting to relevant issues.

First, you have to get the data, and it depends on the organisation, and whether that will be available without paying a large amount of money.

You can also use the Government Information Public Access and Freedom of Information acts.

Often, the data will come in a format that is incredibly difficult to use. It might have been scanned, so you will have to do the data entry into a spreadsheet manually.

Then you have to arrange that in a format that can be digested. Putting in a spreadsheet will not work. You want to put it into a form using a data visualisation software to create a map or graph.

Then you look at making interactive or creating a multimedia slideshow. It can take a long time, and some of them take a week or two to create.

Then the best way is to compare. So you then have to create the data for another period, which means you are starting all over again.