The following changes were made in the Public Interest Publishers Index (PIPI) between 1 January 2025 – 31 March 2025.

To access the public News Producers interface, please click here.
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Click here to access the Q1 data sheet (v2).

The Q1 data sheet was updated to reflect a new Version ID structure in July 2025. The original, now deprecated, data sheet is available here.

Market changes in Q1

DateOutletStateChange
01/01/25Casterton NewsVICChange of ownership
01/01/25Portland ObserverVICChange of ownership
01/01/25Hamilton SpectatorVICChange of ownership
17/01/25East Regional ViewVICOutlet opened
13/02/25Redland City NewsQLDOutlet closed
13/02/25Bayside Weekly NewsQLDOutlet closed
13/02/25Redland Bayside NewsQLDOutlet opened
18/02/25The Gippsland MonitorVICOutlet opened
22/02/25The IrrigatorNSWReduction in frequency
22/02/25The Area NewsNSWReduction in frequency
28/02/25The West Vic BrolgaVICOutlet opened

Changes were observed at 11 news outlets in Q1.

At the beginning of January the sale of three western Victorian newspapers took effect. The Hamilton Spectator,1 Portland Observer2 and Casterton News3 were operated by the Spectator Publishing Group until December 2024. After an announced closure,4 all three papers were picked up by new owners. The Today Group, through its entity SA Today, purchased the Spectator and Observer,5 and The Casterton News was purchased by KLM Publishers, a new entity established by journalist at the paper Kristy McDonald.6 The data has been updated to reflect these changes.

East Regional View7 is a new print and digital newspaper in East Gippsland, Victoria. It is operated by Jason Cherry and Matthew Kruljac,8 both of the recently-closed Great Eastern Mail. The archives and intellectual property of the Mail were acquired by the View owners, but the new paper is not a continuation of the old title.

Redland City News9 and Bayside Weekly News10 were individual outlets published by Local News Group in Queensland and covering Redland, Brisbane and Logan. In January the two newspapers were merged into a single outlet, Redland Bayside News,11 with a combined coverage area. Local News Group also publishes Ipswich Local News,12 which is in PIPI,13 and two monthly lifestyle magazines, Ipswich Local14 and Logan Local,15 which are not.

Gazette News launched two titles in Q1/25. The Gippsland Monitor16 launched on 18 February, covering western Gippsland, and The West Vic Brolga17 launched on 28 February, covering the Western District areas of Ararat, Corangamite, Glenelg, Moyne, Southern Grampians and Warrnambool.

In February Australian Community Media reduced the print frequency of Riverina papers The Area News (Griffith)18 and The Irrigator (Leeton).19 The Area News dropped from thrice weekly to weekly, and The Irrigator dropped from twice weekly to weekly. This was part of a shift across the company to reduce its print operations and focus on weekend editions.20

Other data changes

The following are changes that were made to the data but which did not occur during the reporting period. These can be corrections to data, or market changes that occurred during a previous quarter but which were not captured at the time.

DateOutletStateChange
20/12/24Great Eastern MailVICOutlet closed

The Great Eastern Mail21 published its final edition on 20 December 2024.22 It was replaced by the East Regional View, a new masthead operated by former staff on the Mail.

Other events

Australian Community Media’s shift to weekend publishing included other titles, though these are not reflected in the data. The Goulburn Post, Bega District News, Port News, Great Lakes Advocate, Bay Post, Southern Highlands News, Armidale Express, Mudgee Guardian, South Coast Register, Manning River Times, Macleay Argus and Lithgow Mercury were all affected, however, all of these were already publishing weekly, and as such no change in frequency was recorded.23

CommunityLocalMetroStateNationalTotal
Print744537110545
Digital81565133203
Total8260912243748
Number of public interest publishers recorded in PIPI, 31 March 2025.

Footnotes

  1. Dickson G. 2025. Hamilton Spectator. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 502.01. ↩︎
  2. Dickson G. 2025. Portland Observer. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 562.01. ↩︎
  3. Dickson G. 2025. Casterton News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 464.01. ↩︎
  4. Neal M. and Sanders O. 2024. Newspapers in western Victoria could fold before Christmas as buyer sought. ABC News. 20 November. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-20/portland-observer-sale-staff-redundancies-expected-victoria/104617956 ↩︎
  5. Coleman P. 2025. Australia’s Spectator reappears as weekly Today edition. GXpress. 2 February. https://www.gxpress.net/article/8561/australias-spectator-reappears-as-weekly-today-edition ↩︎
  6. Wright T. 2025. Reports of the death of country newspapers are distinctly premature. The Age. 6 February. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/reports-of-the-death-of-country-newspapers-are-distinctly-premature-20250205-p5l9t8.html ↩︎
  7. Dickson G. 2025. East Regional View. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 999. ↩︎
  8. Coleman P. 2025. Australia’s Spectator reappears as weekly Today edition. GXpress. 2 February. https://www.gxpress.net/article/8561/australias-spectator-reappears-as-weekly-today-edition ↩︎
  9. Dickson G. 2025. Redland City News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 952.01. ↩︎
  10. Dickson G. 2025. Bayside Weekly News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 966.01. ↩︎
  11. Dickson G. 2025. Redland Bayside News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 1021. ↩︎
  12. Local Ipswich News. https://localipswichnews.com.au/ ↩︎
  13. Dickson G. 2025. Local Ipswich News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 877. ↩︎
  14. Ipswich Local. https://www.ipswichlocal.com.au/ ↩︎
  15. Logal Local. https://myloganlocal.com.au/ ↩︎
  16. Dickson G. 2025. The Gippsland Monitor. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 1019. ↩︎
  17. Dickson G. 2025. The West Vic Brolga. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 1020. ↩︎
  18. Dickson G. 2025. The Area News. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 175.01. ↩︎
  19. Dickson G. 2025. The Irrigator. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 194. ↩︎
  20. Holdsworth R. 2025. Ausrtalian Community Media flags future further reduction in print editions. ABC News. 7 February. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-07/acm-newspapers-print-editions-saturdays/104908300 ↩︎
  21. Dickson G. 2025. The Great Eastern Mail. Public Interest Publishers Index. Record Version 606.01. ↩︎
  22. Holst Advertising. 2025. The GEM. http://www.holstadvertising.com/the-gem/ ↩︎
  23. ACM expands regional reach with 14 new weekend newspaper editions. Mi3. 20 February 2025. https://www.mi-3.com.au/20-02-2025/acm-expands-regional-reach-14-new-weekend-newspaper-editions ↩︎