The death of the local rag…
Local papers are the pulse of a community. They can hold councils to account and inform residents on local issues, however in recent years regional newspapers have been dropping like flies.
For 28 years the Great Southern Weekender in Albany had been delivering a free weekly newspaper to residents and businesses, at the end of last year the printing presses stopped. Within days of the last edition being published their Facebook page was advertising a massive clearance sale containing everything you need to run a regional paper. Apple computers, canon cameras, desks, stationary, it was all there for the taking. It seemed an undignified end for a paper that had given so much to its community.
Great Southern Weekender, the final edition
Here at MyMedia we’ve seen the regional newspaper landscape change dramatically over the past 5 years. When SevenWest Media acquired a breadth of local papers we watched the steady syndication of the various mastheads. Regional papers that used to have their own voice began to sound eerily similar, in the United States this syndication of community news is referred to as ‘news deserts’ and it happens when big media entities make big purchases. Like in 2019 when Nine Entertainment sold off their Fairfax regional newspapers to the ASX-listed Thorney Investment Group for $115 million. This included the Mandurah Mail, Bunbury Mail, Collie Mail, Esperance Express, Farm Weekly and three local South-West papers. Of these publications the Collie Mail folded completely.
This isn’t a Western Australian issue, it’s an Australian issue with Queensland being the hardest hit in terms of regional papers folding. Between January 2019 – February 2022, 246 regional print or online news outlets shut their doors across the country. The real kick in the pants for grassroots journalism has been COVID, the Media Union estimates 1000 editorial jobs have been lost during the pandemic. COVID accelerated the mass closure of print publications due to the loss of advertising revenue. With businesses either shut or operating at half capacity their ability to advertise in the local paper was stopped.
All hope is not lost for grassroots journalism, at its core people need local stories. They need a platform that will hold their local councillors to account, that celebrates community sporting heroes and lets you know about the fundraising bake sale or the funeral details of an old friend you may not have seen for a while. Andrew Manuel is the President for Country Press Australia (CPA) and he recently appeared on ABC’s The Drum explaining why CPA is committed to reviving regional print newspapers. He is doing this through a new financing model that combines advertising revenue and reader subscriptions, this is in contrast to the traditional method of a free publication that relied solely on advertising dollars. The CPA represents 160 regional newspapers including the Collie River Valley Bulletin.
The first edition of the Collie River Valley Bulletin
The Collie River Valley Bulletin arose from the ashes of the Collie Mail in 2020. Most of the staff are ex-Collie Mail including stalwart Joe Italiano who started at the Mail in 1969 as an apprentice printer. The paper is everything you expect from a regional publication, it is everything a local resident needs and it gives hope that local journalism will continue to flourish. In fact, despite the loss of so many publications in recent years its heartening to hear that 141 new regional publications have sprung up. CPA President Andrew Manuel says a lot of this has to do with active communities raising their voices, approaching their councils and demanding a platform for local news. News content that we at MyMedia love to share with you because honestly some of the best stories come from the regions.