More web-only mastheads for News

News Corp Australia is ramping up its rollout of digital-only local mastheads to tap strong demand for news.

Journalist at the St George Shire Standard, Eliza Barr. Picture: AAP

News Corp Australia is ramping up its rollout of digital-only local mastheads to tap strong demand for news on local crime, development planning, health, schools and lifestyle.

NewsLocal, which publishes 18 local newspapers around NSW, including The Manly Daily and The Parramatta Advertiser, is set to launch a digital-only local masthead in Newcastle, expected to be called The Newcastle Telegraph, next month.

Just weeks after the federal election, News Corp launched its digital-only masthead, The Canberra Star, to cover all local issues, except politics. The group shuttered its Central Sydney newspaper last month, and immed­iately relaunched it as a digital-only masthead, and launched The Illawarra Star in April.

NewsLocal publisher John McGourty said there would be five digital mastheads by the end of July, taking the total to 23, with more on the drawing board over the next 12 months.

“I’d be reluctant to say where, but we have ambitions to roll out a further four or five in FY20,” Mr McGourty told The Australian.

“They are definitely going to be in areas that we currently don’t have a product. The most important things for people at a local level are crime, court, planning development, transport, local health, local schools, and they’re also interested in local lifestyle that makes them proud of where they live,” he said.

The digital-only mastheads will sit behind The Daily Telegraph paywall, giving subscribers access to extensive local and city news.

Other news businesses in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria are also rolling out a handful of digital-only local mastheads but “not at the expense of printed products”. News’s digital push comes as Antony Catalano and investor Alex Waislitz are set to take control of Nine Entertainment’s 160-plus regional newspapers, including The Canberra Times, inherited from its $4 billion merger with Fairfax Media.

Mr Catalano, a former journalist and chief executive of internet property-listing group Domain, has flagged plans to move its news operations behind a paywall and The Canberra Times has re-established a bureau in Parliament House.

Mr McGourty said there was “a definite gap” in the Canberra market, which had primarily generated stories about politics and bureaucrats.

“The existing local newspaper there, The Canberra Times, has just gone behind a paywall, and they have announced plans to go back to Parliament House with their own bureau,” he said.

“I think it’s a lofty ambition for The Canberra Times to move up-market into that sort of semi-national area, and that’s perfect for us because we’re doing everything but cover federal parliament in The Canberra Star.”

Mr McGourty said the company is also returning to areas where The Daily Telegraph historically had bureaus, in Newcastle and Wollongong.

“We’re re-establishing that connection with that audience, so we’re rebuilding a relationship at a hyper local level in Newcastle and Wollongong.”

Journalists Eliza Barr (St George Shire Standard), Madeline Crittenden (Illawarra Star), Kate Christian (Canberra Star) and Heath Parkes-Hupton (Central Sydney) were “embedded in the community”, Mr McGourty said.

Mr Catalano and Mr Waislitz are scheduled to take control of their mastheads by June 30, two months after striking the deal with Nine. They will pay $105m by the end of June and another $10m within the next 12 months.