In the outback mining town of Lightning Ridge, the local newspaper played a social, civic and political role which digital media have not been able to replace.

Now a PhD graduate and a couple of academics are the latest to analyse what went wrong, and what might be done about it… elsewhere, at least.

Their report, published this week, is replete with references and based on research from four years ago. Events since then have aggravated the problem to which they refer as “news gaps”, but the points remain valid.

In Lighting Ridge, NSW (population 2,284), the Ridge News was one of 106 local and regional newspapers closed by the then Fairfax Media as it grappled with a range of economic challenges.

Launched as an independent in 1991, it had been acquired by Rural Press in 1995, and passed to Fairfax in their 2007 merger. Fairfax – as most of us know – was sold to Nine Entertainment in 2018, and its regional newspapers, printing equipment and real estate (the Rural Press component) packaged and onsold to Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz, who now trade it as Australian Community Media.

For the Lightning Ridge community – with its limited internet and ageing population – the News’ closure in 2015 brought a dramatic change in the way information was shared, and the impact of that change.

In a new report, Deakin University communication professor Kristy Hess, lecturer Julie Freeman, and PhD graduate Marco Magasic analyse that impact and the various stabs made at replacing the former local newspaper.

Magasic, now a researcher at the NSW government’s education statistics and evaluation centre, had previously worked at “several local newspapers” in regional Australia, the article says.

Research for the “focused ethnographic study” spanned two months in 2019, and involved “participant observation, 31 interviews with residents and relevant stakeholders, and examination of several media platforms relevant to the town”.

The lead researcher heard there was still “strong demand” for a local newspaper and a need for a dedicated and independent local news service. Attempts at replacing Ridge News had “either failed or do not adequately fill the gap left”.

A short-lived A4 newsletter with a cover charge and advertising which was printed in the garage of its inexperienced publisher folded “because of economic reasons, notably the lack of time needed to produce a regular publication”.

Several Facebook pages also circulate information, including the Northwest News “operated by a local woman who balances family life with working at the local school and other volunteering commitments… however, again because of time constraints, she mostly collects and shares press releases relevant to Lightning Ridge.

“This means that while the Facebook page is somewhat useful to Lightning Ridge residents, it does not adequately provide original news content.” A problem, they say, compounded by the town’s poor digital connectivity and low internet use, “particularly among the town’s older population.”

Only 57 per cent of Lightning Ridge homes are connected to the internet and approximately 44 per cent of residents are aged over 55 – compared to national averages of 82.5 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.

The report says that residents also pass on local news by word of mouth, and through flyers and the notice boards found around town, methods which “have significant drawbacks”, word of mouth being dependent on personal connections, and flyers, “put up at the whims of residents”, offered information that was not timely and sometimes out of date.

Residents could not access “relevant local TV” and community radio content came from Bathurst, about 550 km away.

The report tells how residents missed social events and meetings because they didn’t know they were happening, and lost connection with councillors and a voice with which to lobby for political power. One resident told how he missed a townhall meeting, finding out about it too late, from “a white bit of paper on a telegraph pole outside the newsagents”.

Fewer people volunteered, distributing drought relief was harder, and civic discussion and participation declined.

With the “loosening of the social fabric” came a growing sense of isolation and loss of social connection. People missed sporting events and also funerals they would have attended, had they known about them.

Councillors told the researcher the Ridge News had been “a barometer of public opinion”. Local newsagent Sally Weeks, who grew up in Lightning Ridge, said that “especially in small communities where there’s not a lot happening, the opportunity for everyone to get together, just catch up and enjoy each other’s company is what small communities are built on.

“And when you don’t have access to that information, I think the fabric of your community loosens.”

People who were interviewed said they felt voiceless in response to decisions made by governmental organisations, and that the social fabric had loosened since the Ridge News’ closure.

“This also meant that information did not flow to institutions and individuals that held positions of power in Lightning Ridge. Council members and local politicians were now less exposed to criticism and also lack an important avenue to gauge public opinion on issues affecting Lightning Ridge.

“A commonality woven through the three themes presented in this article was that something was missing or had declined and that the community was weaker without a local newspaper.”

But authors who acknowledge the Ridge News had been “the community’s only reliable and dedicated local news service”, are at pains “not to glorify the publication as a shining example of public interest journalism – it consisted of six pages of news, produced by one journalist.

“The journalist was unable to attend council meetings and news coverage subsequently relied heavily on press releases.

“Regardless, fieldwork revealed that the local newspaper was an indispensable tool for spreading social and political news, something the other communication channels have not replicated.”

Peter Coleman

Pictures of couple at Nettleton’s First Shaft lookout, and mural of the side of the John Murray Art Gallery in Lightning Ridge, courtesy Destination NSW