Betoota Advocate reveals regional town ‘truth’ to Joe Hildebrand
In a witty back and forth with Joe Hildebrand, the lads behind satirical newspaper The Betoota Advocate discuss the state of the media and give us a tour of their town.
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In the mid-1800s a family newspaper launched in Betoota, Queensland, a town so small it had no residents or buildings – in fact, it hadn’t been founded yet.
It took time, but thanks to its ambitious business model, The Betoota Advocate would become one of Australia’s fastest-growing and most-trusted mastheads in the online space.
Jealous competitors in the mainstream media have sought to brand the Advocate “fake news” or even claim it deliberately takes the piss, citing an unusually outsized focus on federal politics, global news and inner-suburban lifestyle stories for a masthead that’s based in the bush.
But when Stellar contributor Joe Hildebrand interviewed editor Clancy Overell and gun reporter Errol Parker, it became clear the paper is real – as real as Betoota’s 50,000 residents, who all seem to have forgotten to fill out their census forms…
Experienced newsmen like yourselves must find it uncomfortable being on the other side of the microphone.
Clancy Overell: For conservative journalists in Australia, that usually only happens when you’re fronting an inquiry. So to be asked questions by another journalist is refreshing, I have to stay.
Errol Parker: For me this is really just a discussion among contemporaries, Joe.
Take us on a journey through Betoota.
EP: It’s a medium-sized town on the edge of the Simpson Desert, home to about 50,000 people who do not want to be included on such intrusive things as the government census. It’s largely unincorporated.
It’s a similar story to Derry up there in Northern Ireland. You have the f*cking Protestants up there in the middle. In terms of the Catholics in Betoota, they were originally from French Caledonia.
We do have the light rail coming in early next year.
The Betoota Advocate claims to be Australia’s oldest newspaper. What are its origins?
CO: Well, it was the last remaining survivor of the local papers. There was the Bedourie Bugle and the Windorah Watchman, and I’m a true media man in the sense that I’m a fourth-generation editor and had that job (whether or not I had the skills for it) pretty much from birth.
So I have a birthright to this newspaper, and the Australian media cycle and local politics. And I guess the newspaper has risen to the top just because of how much our town serves as an index, not only in the local area, but Australia as well. I mean, our closest capital city is Adelaide, despite us being in Queensland. You could call us Australia’s Parramatta.
For a regional paper, you do seem to cover an awful lot of national and international news. Why?
EP: Well, like everything in media, you write and produce new content that your audience wants. If you don’t then you’re in danger of atrophying, know what I mean?
CO: And that came with an online presence, the national reporting. We had an intern – what was her name? Ella?
EP: Ella.
CO: Bella. She now works in comms for Adani. And she convinced us to jump on to this Facebook thing and we nearly sacked her – she was speaking way out of turn. But she persevered and all of a sudden it worked out. We didn’t realise you could get readers “online”.
You also seem to have an uncannily intimate knowledge of the lifestyle habits of the inner-city party set. Like your knowledge around the prices of various party drugs – which is second to none.
Is that just quality research or do you have reporters out there doing fieldwork?
EP: Well, you see, Betoota is a good cross section of the nation. We’re experiencing all the trials and tribulations many other towns around the country have felt. These f***ing yuppies have just gentrified these established communities; they’ve just moved in. So we do have experience of these-inner city types.
CO: They moved to our town from places like Dandenong and the like.
The paper is obviously positioned as an opinion leader. Does it have a charter? Or a motto like the former Fairfax’s “Independent. Always”?
CO: Ours is “Always, Independent, Always”. With a comma between each word. That’s not a pitch or anything, that’s just what we say around the newsroom.
The Betoota Advocate is obviously not afraid to take on the big guys – the top end of town. And recently it identified me as a right-wing Victorian when I am, in fact, a centre-left person from NSW.
What is the rigour of your fact-checking unit?
CO: Well, a little birdie told us, Joe, that you used to play squash with Tim Smith MP, so…
Used to! Used to!
CO: Well, he had his own weight-loss journey.
Again, I don’t want to make things uncomfortable, but do you have in-house lawyers? I don’t mind being called right-wing, but calling me Victorian is highly defamatory.
EP: One of the things people take into account when they view those things is that our newspaper is essentially worthless. So if anyone comes after us, what are they going to take? They’re going to take the keys to my 2002 AU II Falcon. That’s my biggest asset.
The Betoota Advocate’s new book, Australia 2020 (Macmillian Australia, $32.99), is available Tuesday 10th November. The answer, incidentally, is “pretty good”.
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