TE AWAMUTU NEWS | 1
THURSDAY JANUARY 11, 2024
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JANUARY 11, 2024
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News in your hands Keeping watch We say
By Mary Anne Gill
Good Local Media has launched two new applications (Apps) today giving readers and advertisers the perfect companion to its three printed products. The announcement comes as the latest annual online readership figures for the publisher’s Cambridge News and Te Awamutu News websites show a significant increase over the previous year. In Cambridge, visits were up 119 per cent with the top news story being our own Super Gran foiling ram raiders. Te Awamutu’s top news story was the Alpha Hotel in Kihikihi serving new patrons helping see a 30 per cent increase in visitors over the previous year. Editor Roy Pilott said the
results showed readers of the papers were relying on The News to keep them informed about stories in between editions. “That shows the power of the newspaper. When our paper hits the letterbox, they’re interested in the story and want to find out more. “Our new apps give them the opportunity to do that.” Publisher David Mackenzie said the Cambridge News and Te Awamutu News apps can be downloaded from Google Play or App Store. “We are still a community newspaper business, and we are not abandoning that for digital as other publishers have done. We have loyal readers and advertisers who want an actual newspaper and we’re not going to let them down.
“We are now Waipā’s leading print and digital news outlet with thousands of readers every week.” Late last year Mackenzie added the Waikato Business News to the Good Local Media stable of publications. The third edition under Good Local’s ownership is out later this week and will be delivered businesses in Hamilton, Cambridge and Te Awamutu. “We’re passionate about newspapers and we know our readers and advertisers are too. There’s something special about reading an actual newspaper with local news and advertisements,” said Te Awamutu News App Mackenzie.
• See how to download the apps, page 11 • For our top news stories, teawamutunews .nz
Scouts on the water More than 4000 scouts participated in the 23rd Aotearoa New Zealand Scout Jamboree at Mystery Creek with some Waipā moteliers reporting the full signs were up as parents and caregivers took the opportunity to holiday in and around the district while the jamboree was on. Several Waikato locations were used for abseiling, motorcycling, archery, digger driving and live action foosball. Lake Karāpiro hosted hundreds of scouts for paddleboarding, sailing, kayaking and rowing. See: New beginnings, page 9.
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As we emerge from the shadow of an epidemic and endure cost of living rises, one thing is certain in 2024 – councils around the country, including Waipā, will announce major rate increases. Waipā’s proposed 38.9 per cent cumulative rate rise over three years had, it seems, by Christmas Eve gone up - but who knows by how much? The News will be there to report on it, any developments, to analyse the decisions and to question them. In Waipā the role of your community newspaper has never been more important. The digital age provides a level of immediacy – but it also enables organisations to “control the narrative”. Last year it became evident that senior Waipā council staff were uncomfortable with the level of scrutiny they faced from The News, and particularly our senior writer Mary Anne Gill. The council effectively camouflaged two significant meetings last month - ensuring Gill learned of them only when the council released its “news” release straight after the meetings. That month we also asked questions about a meeting agenda and whether there were caveats on a building. The council filed them under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act – stalling our efforts to bring you answers until the end of January. The council maintains it has no obligation to tell media when it is meeting and that information is made available on its website, thus fulfilling its statutory requirements. That may be true – but it is a significant change in how it sees its relationship with The News. It also comes at a time when, with satisfaction levels in the council having fallen every year since 2016, its own communications budget may be expanded to take on such things as taking over part of the functions i-Sites in both Te Awamutu and Cambridge currently undertake. That could come at the cost of existing jobs. An open council strives to ensure its people are kept aware of what it is doing. That involves a lot more than putting a notice up on a website. Community newspapers not relevant anymore? Let’s see.
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