It's a long list. News Corp Australia, the country's largest newspaper group, has announced that it will stop printing about 100 local and regional newspapers. Nearly sixty of these titles will continue to exist but only online, while the others will be merged with other print or online newspapers.
"Some newspapers will cease publication, but local news coverage will continue." says News Corp Australia.
News Corp, headed by Australian-American businessman Rupert Murdoch, bought the majority of these newspapers in 2016 from the APN News & Media group, via the News Corp Australia group. The Australian group is now focusing on digital.
"Covid-19 has had an impact on the sustainability of our regional editions. Although the non-Website News Corp. audience grew by more than 60% - Australians turned to reliable media sources during the lockdown - the decline in print advertising spending, which contributes to the majority of our revenues, accelerated" said Michael Miller, CEO of News Corp Australia in a statement released May 27.
"More than 640,000 Australians, according to our latest figures, currently subscribe to News Corp's digital news content and subscriptions are growing at an annual rate of 24%. Much of this growth comes from local news, where the number of subscribers has more than doubled in the last year."
