News Corp to cut newspaper distribution across regional Queensland
News Corp Australia will no longer distribute physical editions of mastheads including The Courier Mail, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph to various parts of regional Queensland.
The ABC reports that changes will affect those in areas west of Charters Towers, and west of Emerald, as well as parts of Queenland’s south-west. Mount Isa and Longreach, among other regional centres, will be impacted.
The other titles that will no longer be available in these areas as newspapers will are The Cairns Post, Townsville Bulletin, Toowomba’s The Chronicle, The Weekly Times, and The Sportsman.
In a statement to the ABC, News Corp revealed that the changes would only impact 1% of newspaper sales for the entire company.
“We are following our audience — and our advertisers — to where they consume news and information, allowing our news coverage to be more immediate and focused on our communities,” the statement said.
“While our changes in western Queensland represent about 1% of state newspaper sales, the true value of a newspaper is in the news, not the paper it’s printed on.”
Mumbrella has reached out to News Corp Australia for confirmation and comment, as well as Member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, who reportedly told the ABC he would be speaking with News Corp’s executive chairman Michael Miller regarding the matter.
News Corp shuttered over 100 regional and community newspapers in May of 2020, with 14 titles ceasing to exist entirely. Two months later, the company announced it would launch 50 new digital titles targeted at regional Australia.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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topics
News Corp
News Corp Australia
The Australian
The Cairns Post
The Chronicle
The Courier Mail
The Daily Telegraph
The Sportsman
The Weekly Times
Townsville Bulletin
