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Neighbourhood Paper suspended as publisher restructures business

The future of Sydney based website and freesheet, Neighbourhood Paper is uncertain after publisher Jonathan Samway called administrators to restructure his production agency, Moth Projects last week.

Samway’s move follows Neighbourhood Paper, which celebrated its first birthday in May, announcing earlier this month it was “taking a short break” saying in a Facebook post: “We’re restructuring and hope to be back in a few months.”

In January, Australia’s only children’s newspaper Crinkling News closed down. Two months later troubled music and arts magazine Limelight was rescued after an advertiser purchased the title for an undisclosed price.

At the time of Neighbourhood’s launch last year, Samway promised the paper would offer localised content for Sydney’s Inner West suburbs in the printed edition, and longer-form versions with wider appeal online.

Samway also said the paper planned to invert the traditional advertising and editorial model – 70 % advertising to 30% editorial – and offer readers 80% editorial with the paper funded by long term sponsors.

“We’re looking for partnerships that extend across the year as opposed to selling MRECs or quarter pages – because that’s just a never-ending journey… We’re finalising with corporates now to come on board for a 12-month window,” Samway said.

Neighbourhood Paper editor Mark Mordue (left) and publisher Jonathan Samway (right)

In May, Samway claimed Neighbourhood’s distribution was 100,000 printed copies and an online readership of 400,000.

“It took some bravery – and maybe a little madness to be free of the predictable formats we saw around us. It demanded integrity and a sense of adventure,” said Samway in May. “If this experience wasn’t going to be special, why bother doing it?”

In an earlier version of this story, the headline stated Moth Projects had gone into liquidation. Mumbrella apologises for the error.

 

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