Port Stephens state member Kate Washington said it would take effort from the community and all levels of government to ensure regional newspapers such as the Examiner could continue to operate amid global challenges.
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She has, however, welcomed a council decision to increase its advertising in the newspaper.
Ms Washington welcomed the news that Port Stephens Council would reinstate its weekly advertisements of development applications (DAs) in the Examiner, coming the week that she and members of the Labor Party met with this masthead's publisher ACM to discuss policy to support regional media.
The Port Stephens MP, staff from NSW Labor leader Chris Minns' office and the shadow minister for regional NSW Mick Veitch had a "productive conversation" with ACM managing director Tony Kendall on Friday, December 16.
"We took away some work to do in terms of what regional papers across NSW need to survive and what we can do to support them," Ms Washington said.
"It was a great relief to hear that there's an ongoing commitment to doing everything we can to make the Examiner viable."
A last-ditch appeal to save the 129-year-old masthead from closure has been met with far-reaching support from the community in the past two weeks.
ACM, the publisher of the Examiner, says the newspaper will close without government and community financial support.
A combination of external factors, including a dramatic hike in the cost of newsprint, were behind the initial decision to fold the publication.
The campaign to save the Examiner was boosted at the Tuesday, December 13 council meeting when councillors approved a development application awareness campaign.
As part of the campaign, the council will advertise DAs weekly in the print edition of the Examiner on a trial basis for six months.
Deputy mayor Giacomo Arnott and east ward councillor Leah Anderson have been behind the year-long push to see DAs back in print after they were removed in 2020.
All councillors that attended the final meeting of 2022 except Mayor Ryan Palmer endorsed the campaign (6-1).
Cr Arnott said the campaign's approval was "a good outcome".
"This is about improving transparency and accountability... if this has the effect of helping to save the Examiner from closure, I think that's fantastic," Cr Arnott previously told the Examiner.
Ms Washington said she had been "very critical" of the council in 2020 when they withdrew the publication of DAs in the Examiner, making "local papers less viable".
"This reversal of that decision is very welcome," she said.
Read more on the fight to save the Examiner
- Last-ditch appeal to save Examiner met with far-reaching support, but more to be done
- Port Stephens paper on brink of closing
- The Examiner's closure is imminent - support us now or see us go
- Our backs are against the wall, we need you
- From the archives: When the first Port Stephens Examiner rolled off the presses
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