NewsMail

NewsMail

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner(s)	News Corp Australia
Editor	Megan Sheehan
Founded	1925
Language	English
Headquarters	Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia 36-38 Woondooma St Bundaberg QLD 4670
Circulation	Monday - Friday: 6500 Saturday: 9300
Website	news-mail.com.au

The NewsMail is an online newspaper serving Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia with its website forming part of News Corp Australia's News Regional Media network.

History

The history of Newsmail dated back in the 18th century. Several newspapers were published weekly in Bundaberg between 1880 and 1900, with two tri-weeklies, The Star and The Mail settling the market in the early 20th century. Thomas White, the founder of Newsmail first named Newsmail as the Burnett Argus in 1861. In 1869, White moved the publisher to Maryborough and then changed the name to The Maryborough Mail. In 1872, the publisher moved to a new location and renamed the newspaper again after the Mount Perry. Later on, The Mount Perry Mail moved to Bundaberg and became The Bundaberg Mail. In 1907, The Bundaberg Mail became the city’s first daily newspaper and a merger between Bundaberg Daily News and The Bundaberg Mail has been established. The company now produced newspaper copies under the name of Bundaberg Daily News & Mail. In 1942, the paper eventually changed the name to the Bundaberg News-mail and till 2000s the hyphen in the name is removed.

In 1961, other Queensland newspapers set up a holding company, Provincial Investments Pty Ltd (later called APN), in order to buy stakes of Bundaberg Newsmail. On July 27, 1970, Newsmail marked the first newspaper in Queensland and the second in Australia to publish computerized photoset design and digitally offset printing. In 1970, Newsmail’s headquarters moved to Brisbane, in an office building on the corner of Queen and Albert streets. NewsMail transfers from its office in Targo St, where it has been for 70 years, to new premises in Woondooma St. In 2016, News Corp bought Queensland’s newspaper businesses from Here, There & Everywhere (formerly knowned as APN News and Media), from now on, Newsmail remains a branch of News Corp.

Owned by News Corp Australia, the printed newspaper was published Monday to Saturday until 25 June 2020. As well as serving Bundaberg, the NewsMail was available in coastal communities including Bargara, Elliot Heads, Moore Park, Burnett Heads and the Bundaberg Port. It also reached the surrounding rural communities of Miriam Vale and Agnes Water in the north, Mundubbera, Gayndah, Eidsvold to the west, and Childers and Biggenden further south.

Content

Newsmail newspaper covers a wide range of events including local, national, and international news. Their main headlines are sport, lifestyle, community, jobs, motoring, real estates, obituaries, and classifieds. Newsmail is community-focused reporting, delivering the daily latest news to the local communities including coastal and rural Queensland. Newsmail promised upon their reputation since they first published to meet the community’s demand as well as reflect their lifestyle.

Products

Print newspaper

The print newspaper version first published in 1938 under the name Newsmail. This is a daily newspaper which issues from Monday to Saturday every week. According to Newsmail statistics, 40% of Bundaberg residents subscribed to daily newspapers from Monday to Friday, whereas, on Saturday the percentage goes up by 5% (Morgan, 2012). Local residents can subscribe to Newsmail to get their new issue delivered to their home every morning. In 2015, Newsmail has ranked 9th best of all nation’s daily newspapers in terms of copy sales. On average the publisher produced about 8461 copies each day. Other statistics indicate that Newsmail readership approached 36 000 on average on weekdays and 38 000 on Saturdays, including print, digital, connected devices (Daily Mercury, 2015). However, due to the impact of Covid-19, News Corp Australia announced the suspension of more than 100 print newspapers, including Newsmail. Newsmail followed other other Queensland’s newspapers such as Mackay’s Daily Mercury, Gladstone’s observer, Queensland Times, Sunshine Coast Daily, Rockhampton’s Morning Bulletin, Gladstone’s Observer, Chinchilla News, Dalby Herald, Gatton Star, Noosa News, South Burnett Times, Stanthorpe Border Post, Western Star, Western Times, Whitsunday Times, Whitsunday Coast Guardian and Bowen Independent to shift to digital newspaper (Meade, 2020). The last issue of print newspaper was printed on Saturday, June 25th 2020.

Digital newspaper

In order to meet the demand of readers all across the globe, Newsmail introduced the digital newspaper with immediate access to daily contents with a distinct focus on local current affairs and relevant news from national to international matters. The digital is described as an interactive, inclusive, user-friendly online town center for all the Queensland and northern New South Wales particularly and Australian citizens in general. In addition, digital subscription costs 4$ every month for the first 3 months, then it will be 28$ 4 weekly. The layout is designed like a print paper newspaper, with headlines and a small introduction of every article display so when people double click, the full article will appear. Newsmail also installed other features to enhance readers’ experience such as click on the top or bottom of the page to move to the next page, zoom in and out, print out or download to read. These features adapted to the print newspaper and promise to bring convenience for readers on any mobile devices.

Crisis

During the Great Depression, the number of stakeholders significantly decreased, urging the paper to partner up with other investors and shareholders. Dunn and Co were offering 51.6 percent stake in Newsmail. Jack Manning also joined the Dunn for this deal. However, both parties failed to meet each other’s condition, and in 1961 other newspaper publishers and companies set up a holding company to buy Mrs Barton and Mr and Mrs Young’s controlling stake in the News-Mail (Fielding,2020). In 2013, the worst flood in Bundaberg’s history has inundated Newsmail office causing damages and collapsed systems of the publisher. However, Newsmail’s staff managed to gather latest news in regional area, including the shocking and dramatic scenes in North Bundaberg, where the flood eventually caused the collapse of a section of the Tallon Bridge (Newsmail, 2015).

Award

In 1980, News-Mail Frank Davis is the recipient of the Walkley Award for Best Story in the Provincial Newspaper(Newsmail, 2020). In 2000, Newsmail staffs won the Walkley Award for Coverage of Suburban or Regional Affairs for their Childers backpacker fire article. During the time of the biggest news story in the history of the city, Rod Rehbein was editor of the magazine (Newsmail, 2020).

Directors throughout the year

In 1925, director-editor Steve Walker dies. After that, Sidney Barton is the proprietor and editor of Bundaberg News & Mail until 1931 (Newsmail, 2020). Widow Hooper Barton is appointed as the Daily News & Mail’s director and office manager, Jack Cecil Brady is managing director (Newsmail, 2020). In 1965, Newsmail director Carl Nielson wrote a letter to Mr. Manning called for action to prevent the takeover of Queensland Press Pt Ltd. However, Newsmail remained under Australian Provincial Newspapers Ltd(Newsmail, 2020). In 2007, Wayne Tomkins replaced Russell Lister and became general manager (Newsmail, 2020). In 2011, Angus Irwin is appointed general manager (Newsmail, 2020).. Till 2020, Megan Sheehan appointed Editor of NewsMail and Ingrid Barham appointed Chief Executive Officer (Newsmail, 2020).

See also

• List of newspapers in Australia

External links

• NewsMail