Parker Street Cootamundra on Sunday.
The Twin Town Times has thrown a lifeline to media in the Cootamundra area by assisting with the production of a print product with the Times on Thursday April 23.
A possible logo/masthead for the Cootamundra Newspaper.
The Cootamundra Herald and the Harden Express ceased printing last week leaving the Cootamundra area without a dedicated print product this week and into the future. Some news is continuing to be produced but sits behind a paywall.
Times spokesperson Trish Stadtmiller of Harden said, “We are helping a neighbouring town out. It feels like we are helping family out in a way. My brother has lived in Coota for close to 40 years and my daughter and her husband lived in Coota for the last 8 years before moving to a property in Young only this month. With Anzac Day set down for this weekend and the Corona Virus disrupting all of our communities we have some challenging times ahead. When you have passionate people from Coota make contact and ask what can they do to get a paper going, it makes it easier to achieve.”
Trish said that the paper’s success will depend on the continued enthusiasm and commitment from the Coota community which must mirror the commitment from the Harden community in 2014.
She said, “We know how hard it is at the moment which is why we have offered a free business card size advert to businesses in Coota and Harden for this week’s edition for Anzac Day. The paper will need to be profitable for it to print each week in the future.”
She said, “Every time you add more pages and more colour the cost goes up. This week will be about putting in place what is needed to grow the paper each week and after that with more and more content and the relationships needed to have a successful paper in a country town.”
The Times was started in 2014 by Matthew Stadtmiller who was assisted by Trish and Adrian Stadtmiller. Matthew was a former employee of Fairfax Media up until 2013. Matthew said, “The Times started in 2014 and hasn’t looked back since. We have a model that meets the market with advertising. We don’t have to please shareholders with a dividend like huge companies. We have budgets within reason. It’s not about ripping money out of small towns struggling off the back of droughts, economic downturns and now this virus. We look after the community and record and tell their stories. Newspapers help strengthen communities and they record their history. We can’t rely on others to do that, especially big companies. We must do that ourselves.”
Matthew encouraged anybody who wants to assist with the new venture to make contact with the Coota News Facebook page or to email editorial@twintowntimes.com.au
