Essential service of news

THE head of Australia’s largest independent newspaper association has welcomed the release of a landmark Deakin University report into the future of country papers.

Country Press Australia president Andrew Manuel said the Media Innovation and the Civic Future of Australia’s Country Press report should be seen as a beginning and not an end, and that the report highlighted the essential role local papers play in serving their communities and delivering civic journalism.

“This is arguably the most comprehensive study of our industry ever undertaken and the report stands as a beacon for government, for policymakers and for the community to take the appropriate and necessary actions to ensure newspapers can continue to play such a vital role,” he said following the study’s release on Thursday.

“The study was done across the most tumultuous time the media industry has experienced, and local papers remain such an integral cog in regional and rural Australia, despite the hardships we’ve all endured.

“The report defines regional and rural papers as essential services to the community, and better support from government, and a better understanding from government around this is an important next step,” Mr Manuel said.

The Media Innovation and the Civic Future of Australia’s Country Press report launched last Thursday has been a threeyear Australian Research Council project, led by Deakin University, in partnership with Country Press Australia and RMIT University.

The report reiterates a parliamentary inquiry recommendation for 20 per cent of all federal government advertising expenditure to be allocated to regional and rural news organisations and highlights the need for a better understanding of the role regional and rural newspapers play as well as the need to provide more support.

The study included a survey into attitudes towards local papers and the respondents’ likes and dislikes, as well as interviews and interpretive focus groups with news editors, proprietors and key staff within the Country Press Australia network of more than 200 mastheads located at sites across Australia.

The report calls for a review of the focus

Letter To The Editor

Trading pool cold days

Sir, Thanks to the Loddon Herald for approaching the Loddon Shire regarding extending the pool season (Pools closed before hot day, March 23 edition).

A pity you didn’t get an answer.

on digital reach in regional areas and the accompanying rationale, with questions about the effectiveness of digital over local media when it comes to engagement with regional and rural Australians.

It questions an obsession with digital reach among major advertisers and government and explains how local papers are not designed to individually engage with millions of people, but that their strength lies in their rich levels of engagement with the distinct local communities they are an essential part of.

Mr Manuel said people living in country areas remain passionate and engaged with their local mastheads, and the report highlights the need to better support local news, and equally, the pivotal role and re-

‘The report defines regional and rural papers as essential services to the community, and better support from government, and a better understanding from government around this is an important next step’ sponsibility of country papers to communities scattered across the continent.

“Our members continue to provide the local and civic news that readers crave more than ever, often as the only local media outlet serving a particular region. Coming out of the pandemic, many publishers have reported a strong revival in their readership, underpinned by a focus on hyper-local and unique news that has been a common denominator of country papers since their inception.

“We urgently need government to recognise the importance of our members in the local community and for government to adapt the way they seek to engage our readerships, just as we have adapted our businesses during particularly the past few years.

“Acting on the recommendation for 20 per cent of the federal government’s advertising expenditure to be allocated to

We can never understand why the pool is closed when hot weather is still forecast - it makes up for the days when the pool is closed due to being too cold!

It would be fantastic if the pool stayed open until after the Easter weekend when the town is inundated with holiday mak-