IN light of news that the Port Stephens Examiner may be facing an imminent closure, News Of The Area director Michael Wright is reassuring concerned community members that the region will not be left without a voice.

“Newspapers are so important to our communities, in more ways than most people would understand,” said Mr Wright.

“Having seen the front page of the Examiner this week, it is very sad to see the position the paper is in.

“It’s undoubtedly sad whenever any business struggles so much that they are faced with closing.”

Having served the community since 1893, the loss of the Port Stephens Examiner would certainly be a loss to the community, however Mr Wright has committed to building and expanding Port Stephens News Of The Area to fill the gap.

“Should the Examiner close, I personally want to publicly give the whole of Port Stephens my word that I will be doing much more with Port Stephens NOTA to increase its pages, improve the depth of news content, and offer a better voice for the community than Port Stephens has had for many many years.

“We will be here for you, Port Stephens.”

Thursday’s Examiner front page calls for support from “government, business and the community”, saying the paper faces having to “stop printing in a matter of weeks”.

Mr Wright, who was the General Manager at the Port Stephens Examiner for twelve years before going into independent publishing, holds concerns over the sustainability of continuously propping up struggling newspapers with government grants.

“It’s sad to hear the Port Stephens Examiner is likely to close, however I don’t agree with governments continually offering newspapers grants and funds just to survive,” Mr Wright said.

The Port Stephens Examiner is published by Australian Community Media (ACM), led by CEO Antony Catalano.

In April 2020 ACM suspended 86 non-daily titles, citing the economic downturn brought on by COVID-19, permanently shutting four printing presses.

In the same month the government revealed a pandemic relief package to support regional media outlets which included a $50 million public interest news gathering program for regional media.

At the end of June, it was announced that close to 60 of ACMs titles would return.

On 29 June 2020, Minister Fletcher announced that 107 regional publishers and broadcasters who applied under the Public Interest News Gathering (PING) Program, were found successful to receive a share of $50 million funding committed to support news services who provide public interest journalism to regional communities.

ACM applied and received $10.46 million, while News Of The Area received around $15,500 for its four titles.

In December 2021, The Guardian revealed that even before the first payment was made, ACM was backing off plans to resume printing many of its titles.

Tragically for some communities, like Bellingen and the Nambucca Valley, their long-term local publications never returned to print.

Unfortunately, this week’s frontpage call for government assistance is not a one off.

In response to rapidly rising printing costs, ACM publications across the country appealed for government support on 5 May 2022 with a frontpage spread warning readers ‘Your Paper In Peril’.

Just eight days later, the Australian Government announced a total of $15 million (GST exclusive) in grants to support publishers with printing costs as part of the Regional and Local Newspaper Publishers Program.

While Mr Wright agrees that while the rising cost of printing presents a huge challenge to newspaper production companies, he does not believe that becoming reliant on government funding is a sustainable solution.

“The grants can be helpful for short term assistance, and we have been grateful to receive them, but the majority of your revenue has to come from advertising or other avenues, not from government grants.

“We have received around $140,000 in government assistance in the past few years, but without the funding we have a business model that allows us to operate without assistance.

“I don’t believe continual government assistance is appropriate for a business model that is clearly not viable or sustainable,” he said.

It was a prior paper closure that saw Mr Wright enter the world of independent publishing.

“My wife and I live in Medowie and restarted Myall Coast News Of The Area in 2014 off the back of Fairfax closing it.

“It was deemed not to be viable.

“We have made this paper a great success for the people of Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest, Bulahdelah and the surrounding area.”

Port Stephens News Of The Area was launched by Michael and his wife Rochelle six years ago to “give people and business an alternative to the Examiner”.

In the face of challenging economic times, and in particular the Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on businesses, News Of The Area has remained in print throughout.

In the past year, News Of The Area’s print costs have risen by more than 30 percent.

“It’s safe to say that our Port Stephens paper has also struggled with revenue, but we have been able to keep it going.

“Now we are in a phase of growth and will continue to be a strong voice for our region.”

News Of The Area has also enjoyed growth in other regions in recent years, opening newspapers on the Coffs Coast and in the Nambucca Valley.

“It has been amazing to see our little family business grow to have the impact it is having within communities.”

In May 2020, the 113-year-old Coffs Coast Advocate was one of more than 100 local and regional News Corp newspapers to become digital only or disappear entirely.

News Of The Area decided to fill the gap, and six weeks later had created a newspaper for the region.

“Our Coffs Coast News Of The Area is an immensely strong, well followed and solid regional newspaper.

“The quality of the journalism is excellent, while being a free, weekly paper between 48 and 56 pages.

“It shows the impact that independent media can have in a large regional community.”

A year later, when the ACM run Nambucca Guardian News showed no sign of returning to news stands, News Of The Area delivered a newspaper there too.

Mr Wright said the independent media can be highly effective in regional communities.

“I am aware of many other small independent publishers, who live within their communities, who have opened a quality and solid newspaper after ACM or News Ltd closed a paper.

“Numerous long-time papers have already closed, and I’ve seen numerous small local family publishers open in their place.”

Like all free papers, News Of The Area relies on advertising revenue through the support of the business community.

Mr Wright would urge businesses who would like to explore their print advertising options to get in touch with the Port Stephens News Of The Area.

This week News Of The Area announced the appointment of Tracey Bennett as Client Accounts Manager for Port Stephens and the Myall Coast.

Tracey joins the business after more than ten years with the Port Stephens Examiner, where she developed strong relationships with the business sector across the region.

The Medowie local said she is “excited to take on new challenges” in her new role and to help grow the reach of NOTA in the community.

“It is very exciting to be involved in building the paper up.

“It is great that News Of The Area is a small family business, run from Port Stephens.

The paper is very community minded which I really like.

“Hopefully we can keep building.”