ACM to close three newspaper printing sites in Canberra, SA and Vic, axe jobs

Antony Catalano’s regional publisher Australian Community Media will close three of its eight print plants to cut costs.

Antony Catalano, pictured, and Alex Waislitz own Australian Community Media. Picture: David Geraghty

Regional newspaper publisher Australian Community Media will close three of its eight print facilities, as part of cost-cutting forced by the coronavirus crisis.

As a result of the closures in Canberra, Murray Bridge and Ballarat, ACM has struck a deal with News Corp Australia, which will print some of ACM and Nine Entertainment’s newspapers.

ACM, which is owned by investor Alex Waislitz and media boss Antony Catalano, said the closure of the three printing facilities will make its newspapers “stronger and more sustainable into the future”.

“We are not stepping away from publishing printed copies of our newspapers – to the contrary, the printed newspaper will still play a significant role in the future of ACM.”

As well as printing its own newspapers, ACM prints some of Nine’s mastheads.

The decision comes a month after ACM resumed publishing “a big chunk” of its 170 rural and regional newspapers, which were suspended in April as advertising revenue dropped during the coronavirus crisis. The first few mastheads to return to production were the Goulburn Post, Southern Highland News, The Area News and Wimmera Mail Times.

ACM, which flagged earlier this month that it was reviewing four of its printing sites, will close its facilities in Canberra and Murray Bridge on August 28. It will the printing site in Ballarat on October 2.

The company hasn’t made a decision on its print site in Albury-Wodonga.

An ACM spokesman declined to comment on the number of job losses.

ACM has printed three community newspapers for News Corp for the past few years, and that remains unchanged.

News Corp, publisher of The Australian, last month said it was talking to staff at its two south east Queensland print centres as part of a review that is expected to lead to its printing operations being consolidated into one site.

The group recently moved 76 of its community and regional newspapers to digital-only titles following its publishing restructuring announcement in May.

News Corp, which has 92 digital-only titles, is planning to launch more than 50 digital-only mastheads, with the first 15 to be up and running by the end of September.