Mark Schneider has no plans to develop into the subsequent Rupert Murdoch however he nonetheless has loads to have fun after his start-up newspaper celebrated one yr in print.
Key factors:
- The Bridgetown Star is a small newspaper in WA’s South West
- It’s celebrating its first yr of print regardless of the pressures of the regional media trade
- The editor says native information is in demand and is actively stamping out misinformation
At a time when regional newspapers round Australia are folding, the newspaper editor from Western Australia’s South West is proving there may be nonetheless a thirst for native information.
After retiring from journalism, Mr Schneider mentioned he grew bored and realised he missed writing.
“Journalism is my first blood actually and I noticed a necessity for a paper in Bridgetown and I assumed I would go for it,” he mentioned.
He began The Bridgetown Star as an internet publication however moved it to print when he realised there was a requirement in the neighborhood.
“It is truly been simpler to get advertisers on a print version than to get it on-line.”
Responsibility to right native misinformation
When Bridgetown battled an emergency bushfire in early 2022, Mr Schneider mentioned he was proud to sift out misinformation in the neighborhood.
However with the shortly evolving emergency, he knew his month-to-month publication was not fast sufficient.
“Ultimately I put information gadgets out via Fb simply to maintain folks up-to-date on what was occurring,” he mentioned.
“The response has been fairly good however clearly I’ve put just a few noses out of joint often as a result of folks do not like a number of the information, however that is journalism for you.
Bridgetown Star bucking the pattern
The demand for hyper-local information publications equivalent to The Bridgetown Star has grown throughout regional Australia, based on Media Leisure and Arts Alliance (MEAA) WA director Tiffany Venning.
“We noticed at the beginning of COVID a few of these companies that have been servicing these areas shut their doorways and transfer out utterly, and the necessity from the locals to have one thing to fill that hole has shone via,” she mentioned.
She mentioned bigger metropolitan papers typically do not have the capability to cowl information on a neighborhood degree.
“Area people information and regional information, they’re virtually just like the glue of those communities,” she mentioned.
“They’ll take coronary heart from The Bridgetown Star and see what is feasible.”
