From mining to Meta: the slow decline of Broken Hill’s only newspaper

When Craig Brealey started his journalism cadetship at Broken Hill's union-run Barrier Daily Truth newspaper in 1978, it was a thriving newsroom.

"There would be people coming and going all night, doors slamming, people yelling, it was a lot of fun," says Brealey. "The door was always open, people could come in off the street."

The tabloid had been a cornerstone of the outback New South Wales community since 1897. Operating first as a weekly news sheet and then a daily tabloid from 1908, by the 1970s the paper employed about 80 people including photographers, typesetters and printing plate setters.

"The editor used to smoke a big cigar and I just remember the first day I walked in there I noticed the smell of cigar smoke and newsprint and the clatter of typewriters," Brealey says. "It's a fond memory; that's newspapers for me."

Brealey returned to work at the Barrier Daily Truth several times before his retirement in 2021, racking up more than 30 years at the paper. When he left for the last time, it was published just two days a week and employed 40 people. "It doesn't have that sort of swagger any more," he said. "Nowadays, it's merely a sterile office space with computers and the harsh glare of fluorescent lights."

The pressure to produce more stories from fewer staff had stretched the paper thin.

"They're flat out, it's not a very enjoyable job any more," he said.

Publication was suspended in March 2020 for the first time in more than 100 years and restarted after intervention from mining interests. Its union ownership, the Barrier Industrial Council, turned down a takeover bid.

Last month the paper ceased operations, with the Barrier Industrial Council citing financial difficulties. President and chair of the newspaper board, Rosslyn Ferry, told the ABC that the inability to collect $176,000 owed to the paper was a pivotal factor in the decision to close its doors. She says the union is seeking legal and financial support to reopen.

The paper's staff had dwindled to 15, with only one full-time journalist: Jason Irvine. When he joined the paper in October 2022, he was one of five reporters on staff.

By March the paper had reduced its output by four pages per edition due to staffing shortages. Irvine says the workload became overwhelming as vacancies, including in management, remained unfilled.

"A lot of us needed to cover different roles as people left, and as they weren't looking to hire anyone in those roles, we had to pick up the slack," he says.

The situation was made more challenging by the fact that to work at the paper, employees had to join the Barrier Industrial Council - the union that was also their employer.

The Barrier Industrial Council was formed in 1923 by 18 trade unions, with the aim of improving worker conditions in Broken Hill. It successfully secured a 35-hour work week and five weeks of annual leave for mining employees. It played a crucial role in negotiating local agreements from 1925 to 1986 and achieved significant influence, which has since waned due to declining local mining employment and increased regulation. It took over as publisher of the Barrier Daily Truth from the Barrier District Australasian Labor Federation.

But the unusual ownership was not able to protect the paper from the winds buffeting regional media. More than 200 regional newsrooms have either closed or ceased printing in the past decade, according to the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).

Declines in advertising and subscriber revenue, compounded by the rise of digital platforms, has made it difficult for newspapers to remain financially viable. Readers have been lost to social media. The Barrier Daily Truth was among the news outlets to receive payments from Facebook parent company Meta under agreements brokered though the News Media Bargaining Code, as was Guardian Australia. But Meta has said it will not renew the deals when they expire this year.

The acting director of journalist union the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), Michelle Rae, says the organisation has pushed for the Australian government to use its News Media Assistance Program to provide long-term support to ensure the viability of reputable news outlets, including annual funding of $250m to the Public Interest News Gathering program.

"In the face of declining circulation and advertising as social media and digital platforms continue to cannibalise their readerships, news publications in Australia require systematic, long-term support to ensure their viability and to promote a diverse media landscape," Rae says.

Rae says that significant portions of regional and rural Australia are now facing the risk of becoming "news deserts", where essential areas such as courts and local councils are no longer receiving coverage.

"This is devastating for communities where the local newspaper has for decades been the heartbeat of the community, keeping them connected and informed, giving them a voice, and holding power to account," she says.

The effects can be felt in the robustness of public institutions in country towns, says Annabelle Hickson, a regional journalist who founded and edits the rural-focused Galah Magazine.

"Now might be a great time to be a sort of semi-corrupt councillor or a slightly dodgy cop in a small town because no one's looking," she says.

Those who value the fourth estate's oversight in their towns have to "subscribe to their stuff," Hickson says. "We do have to realise that we're not totally passive in the way we consume news or media. What we give our attention to, what we click on, what we direct our money towards, that's what's going to survive."

There may be a light on the horizon. ENG Media, which has outlets in Mildura, Swan Hill and Kerang, has expressed interest in opening a new newspaper in Broken Hill. Managing director, Ross Lanyon, says they are conducting feasibility studies and seeking commitments from advertisers.

"It's a pretty big town but I haven't opened a newspaper for some time," Lanyon says.