Some of it is justified. Sometimes we are intrusive, aggressive, cynical and negative. We make quick judgments which are not always justified.

Some of the criticism is not. We find things out which the powers that be do not want the public to know about. We are assertive, even aggressive, in doing so. We are sceptical, refusing to take statements at face value and wanting to see the evidence. We are watchdogs, telling you why the trains are late, not reporting when they run on time -- because that is what they are supposed to do. We write the first draft of history. Sometimes we have to amend it later.

And more often than not, good things come about as a result of the power of the Press -- and the actions that people take after reading or seeing something in the media.

One such example is the story we ran last week in which a Police spokesman said an inquiry into a man who was shot with a rubber bullet would not be released. We also ran an editorial criticising the decision.

The next day, the Police said the spokesman had made a mistake and the report would be released. We have since been assured that it was always the intention of the Police to released. But if we had not asked the question, we might never have known that that was the case.

Another example is a happier one. The Women's Resource Centre does vital work in the community helping women and children who cannot protect themselves from physical, sexual and mental abuse.

But providing the staff and resources for this work is expensive, even for a charity which is run as a tight ship.

But an appeal carried in this newspaper has had a stunning response; individuals who read the story understood the importance of the charity and made voluntary donations, some as large as $50,000 and in some cases people gave up their tip money and schoolchildren gave up their pocket money.

It is true that the public gave the money, not the media. But had the public not read about the plight of the Centre, the money would never have come forward.

It is a shame that the Women's Resource Centre has to exist at all, and it is sad that the media has to report on sex crimes and sexual harassment. But we do because the community depends on the media to find out what problems exist.

The important thing is for the media to also do good by helping good people to do good things and for seeing that justice is done.