Kyogle councillors will be asked to consider a motion by mayor Danielle Mulholland around the ‘demise of print media In rural and regional Australia’.
Contained in the upcoming 13 July meeting, Cr Mulholland is calling on for Council to write to various state and federal MPs, the PM and the CEO of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, ‘expressing our concerns around the recent move by NewsCorp to digital media and abolishing print media in rural and regional Australia’.
Last week, NBN News reduced its local content across the state, sparking MP concerns.
Cr Mulholland wrote in the Kyogle Council agenda, ‘NewsCorp has recently abolished a number of print newspapers, with some transitioning to online. Covid-19 has been cited as the reason. This has resulted in over 30 job losses in the Northern Rivers. Fewer journalists means less reporting on court decisions and local council activities, which is necessary for the dissemination of information and the transparency the public expects’.
‘Much of NewsCorp’s advertising revenue comes from real estate advertisements.
NewsCorp is allegedly claiming that Covid-19 has impacted significantly on their advertising revenue and this is a trigger for switching from print to digital. Realestate.com.au is also being cited as the reason print advertisements for properties have declined.
‘However, NewsCorp has a two thirds stake ($8b) in realestate.com.au which would offset any loss of income from print advertisements for properties.
‘The loss of our local papers, including the Richmond River Express Examiner and The Northern Star, the latter of which will be available online, will impact on our social cohesion, knowledge of local events and news stories. The Northern Star has been in print for 144 years and with an ageing population, patchy access to the internet and a lack of understanding around current and emerging technologies, it is important that rural communities be kept up to date on current events and have an appropriate avenue to have their voices heard.
‘At present, there is a $50m package to support regional media during Covid-19 with the stimulus package being aimed at regional newspapers’, she wrote.
Kyogle has two local media publishers: Northern Rivers Talking Turkey (https://nrtt.com.au/) and Kyogle Culture.
Both operate in Kyogle’s town centre but are online only.
According to https://nrtt.com.au, ‘The NRTT celebrated 16 years on 27 Feb 2024 when it was going to print, but for 2025, our 17th year, we will be online only through the website (www.nrtt.com.au) or through facebook page where your business will get direct exposure’.
Kyogle Culture magazine has social media presence and describes itself as ‘a collaborative marketing initiative conceived by local culturally based’.
Media laws abolished in 2017
In 2017, the Turnbull Liberal Government passed the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Act 2017, which abolished two key media‑ownership limits:
1. The “two‑out‑of‑three rule” – This rule prevented any one company from owning TV + radio + newspapers in the same market.
2. The “75% reach rule” — This rule prevented a single TV network from reaching more than 75% of the population.
The reforms also enabled other mergers (e.g., Nine–Fairfax in 2018), which further concentrated Australian media ownership.
This allowed Murdoch, a US citizen, to expand media ownership in Australia, which then resulted in him buying smaller regional newspapers and subsequently closing them, reducing the diversity of small independent newspapers.
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. 
