A new paper for Toowoomba could herald unexpected media growth.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: The media is going through a period of upheaval and change as the internet increases its influence in the delivery of news traditional media, like newspapers, are reshaping the way they do business. And for many major mastheads, that's meant job cuts. The media union estimates up to 70 jobs have gone in Queensland this year. Some are predicting the death of newspapers in their current form but it seems there's life in print yet with a new publisher in regional Queensland.
(FOOTAGE OF CHANNEL TEN)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: When it comes to the news business the news hasn't been good.
NEWS REPORTER: Sources inside ten say about 100 jobs will go. Fairfax staff were given the grim news by their Chief Executive ironically over the internet.
GREG HYWOOD, FAIRFAX CEO: 1900 people will be leaving the business.
MATTHEW MOORE, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD JOURNALIST: We've never seen redundancies of this magnitude.
(FOOTAGE OF NEWSPAPERS BEING PRINTED)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Days after Fairfax announced a restructure News Limited followed suit.
NEW REPORTER: The 19 divisions in the eastern States will be folded into five, national coverage will be streamlined and digital media integrated with print.
KIM WILLIAMS, NEWS LTD CEO: Regrettably this means we will have to make a variety of positions redundant.
NEWS REPORTER: Some believe it's only a matter of time before all news is delivered digitally.
STEPHEN CONROY, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: Sectors that were profitable previously are going to struggle as the internet cannibalises different parts of the economy.
MICHELLE RAE, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE: For the national companies that we've seen losing jobs, it's about smarter technology. So they've been able to streamline their production, streamline the way that they gather news and that they share news.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: In such a challenging, changing environment, the news market might not seem like a particularly attractive investment. But in regional Queensland, a new player has emerged.
(FOOTAGE OF TOOWOOMBA TELEGRAPH)
ADAM DUFFUS, TOOWOOMBA TELEGRAPH: People say we're crazy, but there's a model here that works.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Queensland Media Holdings set up shop this year.
ADAM DUFFUS: It's really for the people. So there's no political affiliations there's no hidden agendas; it's just really run completely independently.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: They've started small in Mackay and Rockhampton. The first edition of the Toowoomba Telegraph hit the newsstands this month. Adam Duffus is the General Manager.
ADAM DUFFUS: Here in Toowoomba, we've got 14 staff and we can produce a highly highly effective and quality newspaper with 14 staff. We outsource our printing, our production's all done in house however, so for 14 staff it becomes a viable option. The likes of the major companies would have 100 plus staff on the books for their daily publications and really Saturday newspapers at the moment are the revenue generating newspapers.
(MORE FOOTAGE OF THE TOOWOOMBA TELEGRAPH)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: The Toowoomba Telegraph is a weekly publication, delivering free to 25,000 homes another 5,000 copies are sold through newsagents.
IAN PATTERSON, NEWSAGENT: We sold 100. We got 100 last Saturday and we had to get more in.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: The three cities for the new papers were chosen carefully.
ADAM DUFFUS: The combining reason is that it's in a mining belt, so within Mackay you've got the Bowen Basin, in Rockhampton you've got your own mining and in Toowoomba you've got Surat. So that's the major reason. It sort of links these three into a corridor. Toowoomba on another hand is a very big fan of print media; you know print in this town has been going for a long long time very successfully. So people in Toowoomba seem to like newspapers.
(FOOTAGE OF THE TOOWOOMBA CHRONICLE)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Toowoomba's mainstay until now has been the daily newspaper, the Toowoomba Chronicle. For 150 years, it's reported on the news and events that have shaped the region.
(JESSICA van VONDEREN SPEAKS WITH ROHAN GOSSTRAY)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Has the Chronicle had a competitor before?
ROHAN GOSSTRAY, TOOWOOMBA CHRONICLE: A number of times. You know, the competitors come and go. The Chronicle's always been very strong and very good at what it does. And we actually welcome competition, it makes us better.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Rohan Gosstray admits the current media environment is challenging. Newspapers make their money from advertisements and businesses he says, are struggling with a changing economy. Despite that, readership has increased in the last five years. Toowoomba claims to be Australia's largest inland regional city and the local Chamber of Commerce says the area can sustain two newspapers.
GREG JOHNSON, TOOWOOMBA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CEO: Toowoomba has been recognised as the hot spot of Australia. It continues to grow each day, the number of industries that we have continue to grow and the opportunities continue to grow so there will certainly be a lot more commercial activity.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: The key to success for regional newspapers, according to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, is their localism and the emergence of new publications is a vote of confidence.
MICHELLE RAE: It's exciting and it shows that people actually have a thirst for their local news.
GREG JOHNSON: That regional people are interested in what's happening in their area, not so much what's happening in George Street, or Canberra, or throughout the world. So the focus for us in regional Australia is on our local news and that's why they prosper and grow.
IAN PATTERSON: We've been here 14 years and our newspaper sales have gone up every year and people often comment that they'd rather not scroll through an internet article or something like that, they'd rather get the paper and have a cup of coffee and just read the articles out of the paper. So I don't think it's a threat no.
(FOOTAGE OF INTERNET WITH NEWS)
JESSICA van VONDEREN: Still, the internet age is coming to the Toowoomba media. Already, the Telegraph is examining its online options. The Chronicle has also embraced new platforms.
ROHAN GOSSTRAY: The transitions been rapid you know our online website now does about 34,000 unique browses a week. On top of that we actually have a new platform coming out, probably three to four weeks time, which is going to allow our readers to buy the newspaper in digital form and read it on their tablets. The Chronicle has to keep evolving. I mean it's survived world wars and the introduction of television, the introduction of radio.
MICHELLE RAE: I think there will always be a market for the industry and we need to change what we think when we say the word newspaper because they exist now digitally. In Brisbane we've got the Brisbane Times with the Fairfax only with a digital edition. So the models are changing and what we think of as a newspaper is changing.
JESSICA van VONDEREN: And Queensland media holdings says they intend expanding, with new publications starting up in one or two other regional centres next year.
EDITOR'S NOTE - This story has been edited on-line to remove a reference to the Daily News at Tweed Heads being a newspaper that only publishes online. In fact, the Daily News is online 7 days a week, but publishes a print version every Saturday as well.
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