What does it take to start a community newspaper? Passionate, frustrated individuals and a gin distillery
When the Glen Innes Examiner stopped circulating a print edition in the northern NSW town in September, a local volunteer newsroom formed to fill the gap
Four months after the launch of the Glen Innes News in the New England region of New South Wales, the president of the masthead’s voluntary committee, David Lewis, has some good news: it’s still in the black. The fortnightly newspaper achieved break-even within two weeks of the launch of its first print edition on 16 January, he says, and is still “paying its bills” via advertisers and donors. For a town that lost its previous print newspaper due to reduced revenue, that’s no mean feat.
Written by unpaid community journalists, the publication has a guiding principle of transparency and is covering candidates ahead of the federal election. The fortnightly paper edition with a circulation of 1,500 is printed in nearby Guyra and distributed at outlets across the region. The website attracts 3,500 unique visitors monthly.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
Continue reading…