Report on Australiaâs regional newspapers
Recommendations to support Australiaâs newspaper services in rural, regional and remote areas will be laid out in a report released today by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts.
Committee Chair, Dr Anne Webster MP said, âRegional newspapers in Australia represent a large and diverse industry, which has experienced significant challenges over the past decade. With the transition to digital news and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assessing the health of our regional newspapers is more important than ever before.â
The Committee made 12 recommendations aimed at addressing core sector issues, and implementing alternative and sustainable business practices, to ensure the longevity of local newspapers across Australia.
The Committee also recommended a multi-pronged approach to support the long-term viability of the sector, particularly for small and independent newspapers based in regional and remote Australian communities. The approach includes the funding and development of a project to gather and analyse core longitudinal data on regional newspapers in Australia.
âFor people in regional, rural, or remote communities, regional newspapers are the main source of local information. It also plays an important role in maintaining an interconnected community, and a healthy democracy. A diversity of opinion from all sides of the political spectrum and coverage of local, as well as national issues, is essential to public debate. It is important we ensure the sector remains viable in the long-termâ, said Dr Webster.
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The Canadian edition of Sing Tao Daily announced on Monday that it would cease its print edition on August 28 after 44 years, to focus on its websites and a new Saturday weekly which would debut in early September.
Sing Tao Canada is a joint venture of Hong Kongâs Sing Tao News Corporation and Canadaâs Torstar Corporation, parent company of Toronto Star.
This came after Sing Tao Dailyâs Australian edition closed abruptly in February 2020.
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The Best Australian Yarn
Picture: Launch of The Best Australian Yarn 2023. Pictured - New Prize Jury judge and award-winning WA author Holden Sheppard, Navitas CEO Scott Jones, First Nations prize ambassador Emma Garlett, WA Education Minister Tony Buti, Centre for Stories CEO Caroline Wood, West Australian Newspapers editor in chief Anthony De Ceglie and Best Australian Yarn illustrator Naomi Craig. Picture: Daniel Wilkins
The worldâs richest short story competition returns
The search for Australiaâs best short story is on again with the return of The Best Australian Yarn, the worldâs richest short story competition for published and unpublished writers.
Submissions are now open for this annual celebration of creative writing and the arts, which first launched in 2022, attracting close to 5,000 entries.
This year, The West Australian, in collaboration with new major partner, leading education provider, Navitas, has increased the total prize pool to $75,000, and introduced two new categories â the Navitas ESL Prize and the First Nations Storytelling Prize, while the Department of Education WA is sponsoring the GenWest Youth Prize, which has expanded to recognise two age groups â 12-14 year olds and 15-18 year olds.
The West Australianâs Editor in Chief, Anthony De Ceglie, said: âThis yearâs competition will be more accessible to all Australians, helping us to unearth exciting new talent and amplify voices from far flung corners of the country.
âAs well as providing prize money to the winners, The West Australian is keen to once again showcase a multitude of outstanding short story entries on both our print and online platforms, that combined, reach 4.4 million readers each month. To augment the reading experience, we will again be designing bespoke illustrations to complement and elevate the stories.â
Navitasâ Chief Executive Officer, Scott Jones, said: âWe are excited to launch the Navitas English as a Second Language Prize, which encourages authors from non-English speaking backgrounds to share their stories and experiences through the written word.
âNavitas embraces diversity in all its forms, and we are passionate about connecting cultures and transforming lives through education. We have provided students across our network of colleges and campuses with language support for decades and to now be able to offer an English as a Second Language (ESL) individual the opportunity to showcase their writing talent and be recognised and rewarded for their personal development is a privilege.â
Indigenous Affairs Advocate and The West Australian columnist, Emma Garlett, has joined the prize jury this year to judge the new First Nations Storytelling category, saying: âWe want to encourage and celebrate our young Indigenous authors by providing a platform for them to share their stories, culture and perspective in the First Nations Storytelling category.
âThere is a rich history of storytelling in Aboriginal culture. This Prize provides the opportunity and incentive for Indigenous Australians to share their stories with the wider Australian audience.â
Minister for Education, Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA said: âThe Best Australian Yarn provides a fun and creative way for students to get involved and expand their skills and writing experiences. Itâs so important that we continue to provide engaging and exciting opportunities to inspire a love of reading and writing in young people.â
Perth Festival and Writing WA, two of Western Australiaâs leading arts and literature organisations, have provided invaluable guidance on the competition, and will be closely involved in the judging process.
Writing WAâs Chief Executive Officer, Will Yeoman, said: âThe Best Australian Yarn competition is now the richest short story prize in the world. If this is not yet another example of Western Australia punching above its weight in terms of the value placed upon literature and its practitioners at every level, I donât know what is.
âAs the stateâs peak body for writing and associated activities, Writing WA is proud to be associated with such a bold initiative â one that continues to help foster a unique and diverse literary ecosystem.â
Perth Festivalâs Head of Programming, Rachael Whitworth, said: âAt Perth Festival, we believe that storytelling is a powerful tool for building understanding and empathy. By supporting The Best Australian Yarn, we hope to provide a platform for diverse voices to be heard and to inspire new perspectives that will enrich our community and beyond.
âFostering and promoting local talent is crucial to the growth and development of our artistic community, and we are committed to providing opportunities for emerging artists to shine.â
The Best Australian Yarn is open to all Australians aged 12 years and over. Entries must be between 1,000 and 2,500 words long and can cover any genre.
The total prize pool of $75,000 is split across the below categories:
⢠Overall Winner - $50,000
⢠Runner up - $3,000
⢠Navitas ESL Prize - $3,000
⢠First Nations Storytelling Prize - $3,000
⢠Regional Prize - $3000
⢠GenWest Youth Prize - $3,000 ($1,500 each for entrants aged 12-14 and 15-18)
⢠The West Readerâs Choice - $2,000
⢠Eight shortlisted overall winner finalists - $1,000 each
Entries are now open and close Tuesday, 1 August 2023.
Lachlan Murdoch drops defamation proceedings against independent AustralianâŚ
Move comes days after Fox reached a $US787.5m settlement with the voting equipment company Dominion in a separate defamation lawsuit
Lachlan Murdoch has dropped his defamation proceedings against the independent Australian media company Private Media, publisher of Crikey.
The Fox Corporation CEO said he was ending the case in light of the settlement in the US of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News.
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10 years for The Guardian Australia
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The managing director of Guardian Australia , Dan Stinton, has abruptly resigned just one week after the publication celebrated its 10-year anniversary.
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Britainâs Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, as well as The Spectator magazine, are to be put up for sale.
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Stuff has created new websites for Christchurchâs The Press, Wellingtonâs The Post â formerly known as The Dominion Post â and Hamiltonâs Waikato Times.
âŚthe company is pivoting to local paywalls for those three cities and a central, ad-funded news website.
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This seem rather strange that Crikey would publish an article that according to its own assessment was so bad they took it down. How did it get published in the first place?
Crikey has made the decision today to remove a piece written by Guy Rundle that asserted the consultation process over Brittany Higginsâ compensation was âstunningly rapidâ. That is not correct â Higgins lodged her claim in March 2022 while the Morrison government was still in office, and it was not settled until December 2022, seven months after the election of the current government.
The piece also repeats the false assertion that the âfigure is believed to be $3 millionâ. There is no factual basis for the $3 million figure; Higgins has publicly said that figure was her initial claim but that the final figure was much lower than that.
In addition to these factual errors, the tone of the piece did not meet Crikeyâs journalistic standards, crucially given that it concerns writing about allegations of sexual assault.
We apologise to Brittany Higgins and our readers and we will update you on a continuing conversation around this issue.
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Rundle writes some absolute dross on the regular too - this one was particularly poor too, not just the content but it also waffled for several paragraphs as if it was in some sort of vain attempt to meet a word count.
Iâm surprised Crikey havenât cut him loose yet. Then again, their standards have never exactly been great - even going back to the Mayne days
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Wiener Zeitung will continue to be published digitally, and hopes to have a monthly print edition in the future.
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PressReader is great - its a shame though that the Australian publishers dropped it like a hot pie for their own apps
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Australiaâs Best Yarn revealed
Unnervingly realistic sci-fi story wins national short story competition
A Tasmanian high school teacher has won the $50,000 first prize in the national short story competition, The Best Australian Yarn.
Jacqueline MacDonald, an aspiring writer from Penguin on the Apple Isleâs north coast, took home the prize for her 2,000-word fictional piece Split Life â an eerie exploration of the potential of human cloning in politics.
The story wowed competition judges with its range and ambition.
The Best Australian Yarn seeks to uncover creative talent from across the country, providing an opportunity for both published and unpublished writers to share in the worldâs richest short story prize pool.
The competition was created by The West Australian and in 2023 has been supported by leading education provider Navitas.
An increased prize pool of $75,000 and two new categories saw entries rise 20% to 5,500 submissions.
The new First Nations Storytelling Prize was won by proud Wiradjuri woman, Sharleigh Crittenden for River Fish, while Harold Legaspi, a Philippines-born, New South Wales resident with Tagalog as his native dialect, took home the new Navitas English as a Second Language Prize for Hero.
The winning stories were shortlisted by the Prize Jury consisting of prize-winning Australian authors, Robert Drewe and Holden Sheppard, acclaimed publishers Terri-ann White and Rachel Bin Salleh and West Australian Newspaperâs Editor in Chief, Anthony De Ceglie.
The Best Australian Yarn is the brainchild of West Australian Newspaperâs Editor in Chief Anthony De Ceglie, who said The West Australian and Navitas are proud to continue championing storytelling and literary excellence.
âBy inviting entries from amateur and professional writers alike, the competition plays an important role in unearthing exciting new talent and amplifying voices from all corners of Australia,â De Ceglie said.
âI can truly say on behalf of our judging panel that we have been blown away by the quality of this yearâs entries which are a testament to the enduring power of the written word.â
Prize Jury judge Terri-ann White said of the winning story, âSplit Life impressed me with its ambition and range and stood above the rest of the shortlisted stories. I look forward to seeing this writer flourish with the confidence that this recognition can enable.â
Prize Jury judge Robert Drewe said âWith short stories youâre waiting for something to detonate. Thatâs what says youâve struck a well-told story. It doesnât have to be tragic, or violent, or overly sentimental and nostalgic, but the reader should feel, even subconsciously, âWow! That strikes a chord, Iâve got something in common with this experience.â And the winner definitely has the wow factor.
âThe vast scope of the stories entered â tales from and about the entire country â further impressed me this year. As I was reading them, I envisaged hundreds of Australians, of all ages and backgrounds, from city students to outback farmersâ wives, bent over their keyboards in the dead of night.â
The winners of the individual categories in The Best Australian Yarn competition were announced overnight at a ceremony at WA Museum Boola Bardip:
⢠Overall Winner - $50,000 | âSplit Lifeâ Jacqueline MacDonald (TAS)
⢠Runner up - $3,000 | âA Highway to Call Homeâ Sam Cecins (WA)
⢠Navitas ESL Winner - $3,000 | âHeroâ Harold Legaspi (NSW)
⢠First Nations Storytelling Winner - $3,000 | âRiver Fishâ Sharleigh Crittenden (NSW)
⢠Regional Australia Winner - $3000 | âThe Expertâ Rachel Van Nierop (WA)
⢠GenWest Youth Winner (12-14)- $1,500 | âOrange Slicesâ Ruby Burke (NSW)
⢠GenWest Youth Winner (15-18)- $1,500 | âSchoolâs Outâ Till OâCallaghan (WA)
⢠Eight shortlisted overall winner finalists - $1,000 each
âGrey Paintâ Josh Lowe
âThe Pyroceneâ Rebecca Higgie
âDorothyâs To-Do Listâ Peter Byrne
âDog Daysâ Keith Johnson
âKalabawâ Cal Guino
âRed Light Runningâ Lily Thomson
âThe Culinarianâ Cameron Rutherford
âIn Whose Handâ Susan Francis
Voting is now open until 2.59am AEDT on 12 December for The Best Australian Yarnâs Readerâs Choice Award, where the most popular story will win $2,000.
A special 64-page edition of The Sunday Timesâ STM magazine this weekend will feature five of the most powerful and poignant winning entries, with illustrations by Naomi Craigs.
The top 50 stories can be read at thewest.com.au/yarn
Entries are currently open for The Best Australian Yarnâs sister competition, The Best Australian Short Film Competition, which has a prize pool of $77,500. More information at bestshortfilm.com.au
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Sometimes i wonder what Melbourne newspaper websites would have been like with an internet that happened a decade or so earlier than it did in our timeline since The Herald and The Sun News-Pictorial would both still be around and so would more niche papers like the Truth. Would there be separate parts of this alternate timeline website for both the Jim Gerald features/columns and the Roosterâs (there was a rooster in the Sun News-Pictorial nameplate)?