Communities driving newspaper revival
The death of the local paper has been greatly exaggerated. Green shoots — in the form of start-up newspapers and websites — are everywhere.
The death of the local paper has been greatly exaggerated.
Despite the closure of a raft of regional and local publications across Australia when the coronavirus took hold 12 months ago, green shoots — in the form of start-up newspapers and websites — are everywhere.
From suburban fringes to regional towns, communities are being well serviced for local news, thanks mostly to the efforts of small, independent publishers.
Andrew Guiver is the general manager of Gympie Today, a weekly 64-page newspaper (it also has an online presence) which filled the void when The Gympie Times, owned by News Corp, closed its print edition last year to become a news website only.
“The community was screaming out for this. I love newspapers and the opportunity to invest in something I believed in was fantastic,” says Mr Guiver, who is also a shareholder in the start-up, which published its first edition on July 31 last year.
“The support of the locals was amazing. We listened to what they wanted and we’ve tried to deliver it, and I think we’re succeeding.”
Backed by the Star News Group — an independent, Australian, family-owned media company that owns eight regional titles in Queensland and a dozen local newspapers in Victoria — Gympie Today has a weekly circulation of 4000.
“Some of our readers still come in to the office to pay their ($3 per week) subscriptions with cash or cheque because they don’t have credit cards, but it demonstrates how much they value it.”
In Queensland, there are more than 50 metropolitan and regional newspapers, a fact that is routinely ignored when media observers claim there is a dearth of local news services and a lack of media diversity in small towns such as Gympie, 170km north of Brisbane.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has repeatedly and mistakenly claimed — as recently as last month’s Senate hearing into media diversity and again this week while promoting his new book — that News Corp (publisher of The Australian) owns 13 of Queensland’s 14 newspapers.
“All this talk of a supposed ‘news desert’ in regional Australia is rubbish,” says News Corp group executive Campbell Reid. “There is a strong news presence and the growth of independent publishers in these markets is a fantastic thing.”
Damian Morgan, director of Gympie Today, said Mr Rudd “has no idea” about the media landscape in regional Australia, “and he doesn’t seem to want to know about us”.
“He’s out of touch with regional Australia, and by pretending we don’t exist, he’s basically insulting hardworking Australians,” Mr Morgan said
He said the independent newspaper market was “vibrant”.
“We’re seeing a resurgence of thriving, independent newspapers. For sure, it’s a challenging environment but we’re able to provide vibrant and diverse news coverage,” Mr Morgan said.
“In most markets where there are independent start-ups, such as Gympie, News Corp has retained a digital presence, and the ABC has a strong presence as well.
“So this idea that people in regional Australia aren’t getting news, it couldn’t be further from the truth — and local advertisers are more than happy to get on board.”
Bruce Davidson, boss of media production services company Pagemasters, is well-placed to assess the health of the Australian media market, given that his company provides major metro titles — as well as more than 50 independent news publishers across Australia — with layout and design, as well as puzzles, crosswords and TV pages.
“Since July 2020 we have secured new work with 30 independent publishers and we had two more approaches as recently as last week,” Mr Davidson says.
“It’s been great to see so many locals taking the initiative and starting up papers and websites. It’s happening all over the country. Locals are really embracing the grassroots element.”
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