Panic is starting to set for the newsprint publishers as the price of paper is set to skyrocket on July 1.
Australian Community Media (ACM), the owner of Bay Post and Narooma News is seeking financial assistance to offset the impact of what they say will be an 80 per cent increase in the price of newsprint by Australia's only supplier.
Already thinned to just sixteen pages and only coming out once a week the two local mastheads present as little more than a vehicle to carry national corporate advertising gained via the 132 masthead coverage that ACM has across the country.
Local content has been replaced with region content as staff are thinned and boundaries expanded.
The steady exodus away from the once popular and vital mastheads that long served the community has been in place since Fairfax was pulled apart and a new, sharp model was set in place that has steadily been driving readers to subscribe on line or to leave altogether and rely on alternate sources for their news such as The Beagle, The Moruya Mail, About Regional, The Braidwood Bugle and the Riot Act, all delivering quality, informative, inclusive and timely local content for free.
The demise of newsprint has been coming for some time.
Maybe that day isn't so far away given the panic that is now being shown by ACM who are seeking Government support to meet the increased paper costs.
