THE Riverland will soon boast one expanded newspaper to service the entire region, in a major boost for local readers and advertisers.
The Riverland-based Taylor Group, which publishes The Murray Pioneer, The River News and The Loxton News, has announced today that all three weekly papers will join forces, offering better value for money, and improved coverage of news, community events and sport.
The final standalone editions of The Loxton News and the Waikerie-centric River News will be printed next week, before all three mastheads are combined in The Murray Pioneer from Wednesday, April 22.
The existing offices in Loxton and Waikerie will remain open, and each centre will retain a dedicated journalist – plus sales staff – to service the respective districts.
“All existing coverage from three papers will soon be presented in the new, better, expanded Murray Pioneer,” said Taylor Group managing director Ben Taylor.
“That’s everything from the Loxton district that’s been in The Loxton News, plus everything from the Riverland West area that’s always been in The River News.
“So it’ll simply be better value for money, more pages, more news, more photos and – looking to the future when it resumes – broader sports coverage, with more results and stories.
“It’s important to point out that we’re not retracting our coverage in any way; in fact it’s the opposite.”
Mr Taylor said having a single truly Riverland paper would generate other benefits.
“Our papers have always been community-driven, but now we’ll be an even stronger voice for the people of the Riverland,” he said.
“We’ll continue to report on all tiers of government and – when and where necessary – we’ll be a more powerful advocate for the Riverland to ensure the region gets its fair share. That includes giving locals a chance to air their views in our pages.
“And we’ll have coverage of all three Riverland councils in one paper, plus the Mid-Murray Council coverage that The River News has always carried.”
Mr Taylor said the overwhelmingly positive feedback to The Murray Pioneer’s decision to move from bi-weekly to weekly in mid-2019 played a role in the move to consolidate the Riverland papers.
“Moving to once a week – every Wednesday – was certainly embraced by the Riverland and we thank the community for that,” he said.
“We feel that experience will be repeated here, as we increase our content.
“We’re determined to continue being the most trusted source of Riverland news and we’re committed to being around for the long haul.”
The decision to combine all three papers will come without a major price rise, with the expanded Murray Pioneer’s cover price to increase by just 50 cents, from $2 to $2.50.
“Even though it’s a bigger paper, with more resources needed, we’ve managed to keep it to $2.50 a week, in light of the community’s current extraordinary challenges and our desire to ensure the Pioneer remains as well read as ever, and maintains its position as an important part of the community,” Mr Taylor said.
“We basically want the Pioneer to be affordable to everyone, so we’ll do whatever we can to make that happen.”
For further information, contact Ben Taylor (0419 833 517).