The following changes were made in the Public Interest Publishers Index (PIPI) between 1 July 2025 – 30 September 2025.

To access the public News Producers interface, please click here.
To access the public Changes interface, please click here.

Please click here to access the Q3 data sheet.

To access previous quarter data sheets, please click here.

Market changes in Q3

DateOutletStateChange
01/07/25Hopetoun Courier and Mallee PioneerVICChange of ownership
14/08/25Nyngan WeeklyNSWOutlet closed
20/08/25The Observer (Cassowary Coast)QLDOutlet opened
27/08/25Warren StarNSWOutlet closed
28/08/25Narromine StarNSWOutlet suspended
01/09/25Broken Hill TimesNSWChange of ownership
01/09/25The Guardian (Swan Hill)VICChange of ownership
01/09/25Gannawarra TimesVICChange of ownership
01/09/25Sunraysia DailyVICChange of ownership
04/09/25Warren and Nyngan WeeklyNSWOutlet opened
09/09/25Manly ObserverVICNew print edition

Changes were observed at 10 news outlets in Q3.

The Hopetoun Courier and Mallee Pioneer was acquired by Wimmera Mallee News in July 2025.1 This followed an extended period of uncertainty for the paper after long-time editor Lisa Magee announced her retirement. Wimmera Mallee News also publishes the Warracknabeal Herald, Dimboola Banner, Rainbow-Jeparit Argus, and the Wimmera Mail-Times, which it acquired from Australian Community Media earlier this year.2

Multiple connected changes were observed in the Orana region of New South Wales. The Nyngan Weekly, Warren Star and Narromine Star all ended their print editions during the quarter. The Nyngan and Warren titles were merged and relaunched as a single title in September, the Warren and Nyngan Weekly.3 In announcing its closure, the Narromine Star also said that it would launch a website and continue publishing online, but this has not yet occurred at the end of the quarter. As such, the outlet has been listed as suspended.

Cairns Local News launched The Observer, a new fortnightly paper covering the Cassowary Coast local government area, in August 2025.4

In early September the Today News Group completed its acquisition of all four titles published by the Elliott Newspaper Group: the Sunraysia Daily (Mildura), The Guardian (Swan Hill), Gannawarra Times (Kerang) and the Broken Hill Times.5 The latter title is the first presence for the rapidly-expanding network in New South Wales.6

The Manly Observer launched a quarterly print edition in September 2025.7

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 additions to the database, corrections to existing data, or market changes that occurred during a previous quarter but which were not captured at the time.

DateOutletStateChange
Pre-2019Beaconsfield BannerVICAdded to database
Pre-2019Birregurra MailVICAdded to database
Pre-2019The Koo Wee Rup BlackfishVICAdded to database
Pre-2019North & West Melbourne NewsVICAdded to database
Pre-2019The SpringDale MessengerVICAdded to database
Pre-2019Village BellVICAdded to database
Pre-2019What’s NewsVICAdded to database
Pre-2019Yackity YakVICAdded to database
Pre-2019Yarragon NewsVICAdded to database
01/02/20Emerald NewsVICOutlet opened
23/03/20New BeginningsVICOutlet opened
01/06/20Gisborne GazetteVICOutlet opened
01/01/21Ballarat East Community NewsVICOutlet opened
01/10/22Connecting SebastopolVICOutlet opened
27/11/24New MatildaQLDOutlet closed

Most changes this month follow a review of the Community Newspapers Association of Victoria (CNAV) member list as of September 2025. 14 members of the association were identified as eligible for the project and not already in the data:

  • Ballarat East Community News,8 Ballarat East
  • Beaconsfield Banner,9 Beaconsfield
  • Birregurra Mail, Birregurra
  • Connecting Sebastopol,10 Sebastopol
  • Emerald News,11 Emerald
  • Gisborne Gazette,12 Gisborne
  • The Koo Wee Rup Blackfish,13 Koo Wee Rup
  • New Beginnings,14 Long Gully
  • North & West Melbourne News,15 North Melbourne
  • The SpringDale Messenger,16 Drysdale
  • Village Bell,17 Upper Beaconsfield
  • What’s News,18 Wandong
  • Yackity Yak,19 Yackandandah
  • Yarragon News,20 Yarragon

All except the North & West Melbourne News have been assessed as Community-scale publications. These are non-commercial, volunteer-run news outlets that cover social issues within a small area. These may not reach the professionalism standards of a local news outlet, but are nevertheless an important part of community news provision.

One outlet was not found to be eligible for the project. The Community Voice (Nagambie) is produced by the local tourism board in partnership with the state government and lacks sufficient editorial independence from other commercial interests.

Three further outlets have not yet been assessed as they do not produce digital editions, and emails to the editors were not returned in time for this data release. These will be reviewed during Q4.

After a third consecutive quarter of inactivity,21 New Matilda has been listed as closed. Its most recent article was published on 11 November 2024.22

CommunityLocalMetroStateNationalTotal
Print864447112550
Digital91495126190
Total9559312238740
Number of public interest publishers recorded in PIPI, 30 September 2025.

Footnotes

  1. Hopetoun Courier. 2025. Facebook post. 25 June. https://www.facebook.com/hopetoun.courier/posts/pfbid0CPNvJeWzojbbFHTMLcEJYNreYkSAWNHHsEhRg3KJoamCg8sxBcaE2CJZ1DnxeKEFl ↩︎
  2. Dickson G. 2025. PIPI: Q2/25 Data Changes. 1 July. https://gary-dickson.com/2025/07/01/pipi-q2-25-data-changes/ ↩︎
  3. The Warren and Nyngan Weekly. 2025. New print title incoming! 4 September. https://www.nynganweekly.com.au/new-print-title-incoming-2025-09-04 ↩︎
  4. The Observer. 2025. Your local paper. The Observer. 20 August. https://www.calameo.com/read/007988678db30e7df66c7 ↩︎
  5. Sunraysia Daily. 2025. Lanyon family to pass publishing legacy to SA Today. 23 July. https://sunraysiadaily.com.au/sunraysia-daily/2025/07/23/lanyon-family-to-pass-publishing-legacy-to-sa-today/ ↩︎
  6. Dickson G. 2025. Today’s news. 1 September. https://gary-dickson.com/2025/09/01/todays-news/ ↩︎
  7. Manly Observer. 2025. Facebook post. 9 September. https://www.facebook.com/manlyobserver/posts/pfbid0qsyG9QSULk2UPu1PCYQEFpSm6GeeSByGhHELitaMyBeCqBNrRvoCbjJBm5VPgtc1l ↩︎
  8. Ballarat East Community News. 2025. https://www.ballarateastnh.org.au/ballarat-east-community-news/community-news ↩︎
  9. Beaconsfield Banner. 2025. https://beaconsfield.org.au/ ↩︎
  10. Connecting Sebastopol. 2025. https://connectingsebastopol.com.au/newsletter ↩︎
  11. Emerald News. 2025. https://emeraldvillage.org.au/newsletter/ ↩︎
  12. Gisborne Gazette. 2025. https://www.gisbornegazette.org.au/ ↩︎
  13. The Koo Wee Rup Blackfish. 2025. https://www.kooweebypass.com.au/ ↩︎
  14. New Beginnings. 2025. https://www.lgnc.org.au/newsletter ↩︎
  15. North & West Melbourne News. 2025. https://nwmnc.webflow.io/nwm-news ↩︎
  16. The SpringDale Messenger. 2025. https://www.messenger.springdale.org.au/ ↩︎
  17. Village Bell. 2025. https://upperbeaconsfield.org.au/village-bell/ ↩︎
  18. What’s News. 2025. https://www.wandong.vic.au/local-news/what-s-news/ ↩︎
  19. Yackity Yak. 2025. https://www.ycdco.com.au/yackityyak-news ↩︎
  20. Yarragon News. 2025. https://www.yarragonnews.au/ ↩︎
  21. Dickson G. 2025. PIPI: Q2/25 Data Changes. 1 July. https://gary-dickson.com/2025/07/01/pipi-q2-25-data-changes/ ↩︎
  22. Graham C. 2024. ABC’s new series ‘Eat the Invaders’ gets 4.5 stars… and I haven’t even watched it yet. New Matilda. 27 November. https://newmatilda.com/2024/11/27/abcs-new-series-eat-the-invaders-gets-4-5-stars-and-i-havent-even-watched-it-yet/ ↩︎