Paul Bibby
The region’s latest newspaper, The Northern Rivers Review, is off to a less-than-auspicious start after its owners inexplicably claimed that they owned The Byron Shire Echo.
In a gaffe which raises questions as to the Review’s ability to accurately report the facts, a press release from media corporation ACM today stated that it owned the ‘Newcastle Herald, The Canberra Times and the Byron Shire Echo’.
The Byron Shire Echo, the newspaper which publishes this website, is a local, family-owned business and has never been owned by any corporation, including ACM.
‘I imagine that Antony Catalano [ACM’s Executive Chairman] was sitting there at the luxury hotel he owns in Byron and just became a bit confused about whether he owned The Byron Shire Echo or was just reading it,’ The Echo’s General Manager, Simon Haslam said, chuckling.
‘I think the same thing happens to Rupert Murdoch when he meets politicians. He probably just assumes he owns them until someone tells him otherwise.’
Mr Catalano was quoted in the press release as saying that he ‘couldn’t be happier to be launching a new publication in the area I care so much about.’
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
