Peninsula News - 9 Jan 2023

The publication date was November 2, 2020, and the headline was "Council is suspended for three months" with a picture of interim administrator Mr Dick Persson.

The heading of the "Blue Panel" on the front page read "Peninsula News goes it alone" with a sub heading "Help and support needed for our own local newspaper".

The previous issue of the Peninsula News, issue 505, had been 32 pages. Issue 506 was just eight pages.

So what had happened between issues 505 and 506 to bring things to such a sorry state?

As explained in the Blue Panel at the time, Central Coast Newspapers, which had been responsible for advertising, printing and distribution, had advised that they would no longer produce the paper on behalf of Peninsula News.

Overnight most of the advertising revenue vanished as advertisers were steered to "The Pelican Post", which was misleadingly paraded as the "new" Peninsula News.

Remember the Pelican Post?

It produced 52 issues in the 17 months before it closed in March last year.

The main difference between Peninsula News and Pelican Post was the commitment of Peninsula News to comprehensive local news coverage of the Peninsula - without puff and padding, or extraneous regional coverage.

Despite the difference in the number of pages, Peninsula News provided a greater number of local news items. It has always prided itself on providing more local news than all the other media combined.

The other major difference was of course the fact that Peninsula News was, and is, a non-profit incorporated association run by the community for the community and Pelican Post was a private enterprise.

This is not to say that there is anything intrinsically wrong with running a newspaper for profit. The profit motive goes hand in hand with efficiency in business.

However the profit motive cannot motivate every single facet of our lives or satisfy everyone's needs.

One of those needs is to feel connected to the local community especially as one gets a bit older.

What better way to do this than a local community newspaper run by the community?

The editor of Peninsula News at the time of the "split" was, and still is, Mark Snell. He has been the editor since issue number one all those years ago, back in March 1999.

In all that time Mark has never asked for, or been paid, a cent for his unceasing work and dedication to ensure the high standards of the paper.

He had a vision which was to provide residents of the Peninsula with free, truly independent and unbiased local news coverage and through this to support and improve the community.

In those difficult months after the parting of the ways with Central Coast Newspapers, many people thought that Peninsula News' demise was a foregone conclusion.

Mark's determination never wavered however.

With the help of a few loyal advertisers, volunteers and the community including generous support from Lions and Rotary, Peninsula News somehow managed to scrape through, only slightly delaying a single issue.

Issue number 529 was delayed for a week, being published on October 11, 2021, instead of October 5, the Blue Panel at the time read "Time off for running repairs" and was required because Mark had to go to hospital for an operation. But he came back and is still going strong.

A lot of communities in Australia have lost their local newspaper altogether.

As the song goes: "You don't know what you've got till it's gone".

Please support Peninsula News so that doesn't happen here.

You can support Peninsula News by supporting its advertisers, those worthy souls who have stood by the paper and the community through thick and thin.

If you are a local business, please consider supporting Peninsula News through advertising even in a small way.

Readers can also show support by volunteering to help with the myriad tasks involved in producing the paper, and by spreading the good word about the value of the paper.

Peninsula News also accepts donations towards the printing costs of the paper, which can be deposited at the Ettalong Community Bendigo Bank branch.

Here's to a great year for Peninsula News and its readers in 2023.

SOURCE:

Email, 4 Jan 2023

Frank Wiffen, Woy Woy

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