ACM has been running a series of articles about social media with a more regional bent - this week’s is about government advertising which seems little more then an opportunity for ACM to have a go at State and Federal government’s not advertising local papers (again)
It’s all getting a bit tedious and not really achieving anything
All these complaints should appear when governments at all levels start advertising in the papers again. Simple.
Except they’re not going to start advertising at any real scale in a lot of newspapers again, the readership numbers simply isn’t there to justify it.
ACM’s move to shift from daily printing to one time a week for some of their “mid-tier” mastheads isn’t going to help either
Real front or wraparound?
Very informative. Well done Newcastle Herald, well worth the ever increasing cost of subscription with ever diminishing returns. 
From MEAA
The axing of more experienced journalists by Australian Community Media (ACM) is another blow to communities who rely on local papers for critical and relevant information.
Last week the company told employees and the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) that as many as nine staff from the print production team will be made redundant. The union is also concerned about the future of several mastheads as daily printed newspapers amid concerns they could be reduced to Saturday-only printed editions.
The union is extremely concerned these print producers could be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) tools, given there is evidence that ACM is already using AI tools in the business.
MEAA acting Chief Executive Adam Portelli called on ACM to consult with its editorial staff about the implications of using AI and its impact on the quality of news and the workforce.
“AI in Australia is still unregulated, and given Australians want strong laws to manage AI risks, any move by ACM to do this would be out of touch with community expectations,” Mr Portelli said.
The new cuts come just three months after ACM axed 35 jobs across 11 newsrooms, and stopped printing eight newspapers. And in August 2024 the company ceased printing a swag of country News South Wales papers such as the Moree Champion and the Tenterfield Star, and photographers and journalists at these publications were made redundant.
The union understands about one third of the small, but important ACM print production team will be gutted under ACM’s latest restructure.
The team includes some of the longest standing and most experienced sub editors and journalists in the company.
Their role includes quality control and tasks such as creating international and national pages for many ACM papers, which hundreds of thousands of Australians read and rely on.
MEAA’s National Media Section have passed a motion condemning ACM’s actions.
MEAA is campaigning for laws governing the use of AI on behalf of the communities who deserve strong local stories produced by journalists whose experience and skills are being sacrificed for untested and potentially dangerous AI tools.
Armidale Express moving from Friday publication to Saturday
All Newcastle Herald subscribers got this email today. Can you spot the error?
Then we got this email.
Does quality control exist at ACM?
Meh. Scone Advocate was like that for years.
How are Newcastle Herald and Canberra Times selling?
It is particularly not a good look for Canberra Times as it is the major daily newspaper of the national capital. Turning it into a weekly will also mean the end of the Sunday edition.
Agreed, it’s not a good look if the Canberra Times switches to weekly, given it’s our nation’s capital and it’s treated like a regional backwater.
The Newcastle Herald - it would be a shame but not unexpected. Newcastle does deserve better though.
They’ve seen the numbers from Dubbo, Bathurst and Orange (where both digital subs are up and print sales are up) and think that its replicable across the network.
The Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra papers would quite possibly still have decent value - seems crazy to throw that away for lazy output
ACM launches commercial strategy and operations arm; announces expert team to run it
Australian Community Media (ACM) revealed that it has set up a brand new commercial operations and strategy division, with a slew of in-house leadership promotions to staff it.
ACM’s Commercial Strategy Centre of Excellence will work to help ACM’s partners’ companies grow their presence and tighten their grip on regional Australia. The Centre’s team is comprised of commercial strategy experts from within ACM’s existing employee pool.
Led by Jarrah Petzold – ACM’s newly coined chief marketing officer – the team consists of commercial operations director, Maree Neale, who steps into the role of director of commercial strategy, tasked with spearheading the division; national strategy director, Lisa Levesque, who will serve as deputy director of commercial strategy; head of marketing – ACM Agri, Lupe Prada, the Centre’s new marketing and commercial strategy director, ACM Agri; and head of business improvement – commercial, Chris Clarke, who has been set up as director of business intelligence.
Oxymoron right there.
Sending out emails for competitions that have already been done is quite the excellent commercial strategy right there. 
Surely News Corp or Nine should just create localised Newcastle/Canberra wraparounds and tap into those markets for almost no cost above the Sydney papers that they already deliver into those regions.
