IT was late April last year when Nine Entertainment sold 160-plus former Fairfax regional papers, including the Newcastle Herald, to Australian Community Media.
At the time, ACM executive chairman Antony Catalano was confident the new company would become "a bigger and better business, and not a shrinking business", despite the "structural headwinds" of the digital revolution that have cut into newspaper circulation and advertising revenues, while funnelling most of the profits from online media advertising to Google and Facebook.
Until COVID-19 it seemed Australia's largest regional publisher was succeeding in its aims.
But after rival News Corp announced the shuttering of 60 small community titles in four states earlier this month, ACM has been forced to follow suit, and to "temporarily" cease many of its non-daily papers and close four of its stable of printing presses.
The Herald, together with the Port Stephens Examiner, will continue to publish their usual print editions, but the rest of ACM's Hunter titles, including the Maitland Mercury, Cessnock Advertiser and Singleton Argus, will become websites only, with content shared from other operating ACM sources, until at least the end of June.
Mr Catalano said yesterday that ACM's revenues were yet to fall by the 30 per cent required for the Australian government's $130-billion JobKeeper scheme, which will help the nation's businesses across the board once payments flow in May.
He said ACM intended to register "as soon as we are eligible", indicating its financial position will continue to worsen as other businesses, unable to sell their products or their services, withdraw the advertising.
ACM and other media companies have been urging Canberra to assist the sector, possibly by easing the JobKeeper entry requirements.
Although Australia's social measures are appearing successful in bringing the virus under control, there will be no economic improvement in sight for the foreseeable future.
The government talked over Easter about finding a road "out of" the coronavirus crisis.
That road must include a way to keep regional and local news outlets operating throughout the storm, and wherever we find ourselves when the horizon has cleared.
This is a crisis hitting small communities, and not just capital cities.
ISSUE: 39,580.
IN THE NEWS:
- Pell says it's 'ironic' he faced abuse claims
- Where can I get tested for COVID-19 in NSW?
- Huge swells hit Newcastle beaches amid ongoing coronavirus lockdown
- Man, 18, serious but stable after Easter Monday cliff fall at Copacabana on the Central Coast
- How we'll celebrate Anzac Day 2020 during COVID-19 restrictions
