00:00 Rows and rows of bound archives. These are the Northeastern Advertiser papers dating
00:07 back 114 years.
00:09 There's lots of history in this room.
00:13 Journalist and former TV presenter Rachel Williams is the new editor and owner. She
00:18 took over last month.
00:20 I knew how important this publication is for the local community and I couldn't let it
00:25 go under so I decided to make the purchase.
00:30 Just two months ago the weekly paper was facing an uncertain future. The editor was going
00:36 on maternity leave, several journalists had moved on and the paper was at crisis point.
00:42 The former owners decided to sell up.
00:45 I really firmly believe in the future of publications. I know that a lot of people would have a different
00:52 opinion to me on that but I feel like there's something tangible in them, there's something
00:57 real.
00:58 And running the newspaper has certainly had its challenges so far. Twelve hour days, lots
01:04 of travel, all while wrangling a young family.
01:07 I feel like I'm a circus rat juggling at the moment but hopefully everything will land
01:12 in the right position in the future.
01:15 Around two and a half thousand papers are printed every week. They're distributed to
01:19 news agencies and supermarkets from Georgetown to St Helens and down to Launceston.
01:25 It's a small community paper and it has the information that is going on in the town and
01:30 the little things that don't actually make the big paper or make the big news.
01:34 For small regional towns like Scottsdale, the local paper is often the glue for the
01:39 community. It's been produced here since 1909 and the new team hope that'll continue for
01:45 many more years to come.
01:47 It's great, everybody reads it, you look forward to it and the little paper kids that
01:50 drop it in to you.
01:52 The old paper's giving its new owner a run for her money.
01:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments