NORTHERN NEWSPAPER CLOSURE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS ; OTHERS FEELING THE PINCH

 

Word  has  come through that the Thursday Island  Cape and Torres News  has closed. The newspaper was  formed  with the merger  in October  2019 of the  Torres News  and  Cape News , covering Cape York and  the Torres Strait , bringing together  newspaper interests said to  go  back  65 years .  Airline  cutbacks due to the  virus   have  had  a big affect on the weekly circulation which  was  advertised  at 3300. The closure  seems to have had little  coverage in  North  Queensland media.

 Copies of Cape and Torres News  were received  by this blog from time to time and  much of interest  was  found  within its pages . In fact , one  article about an  object found  at sea  threw  light on  early  South  Australia  copper  mining , in which  we  were  interested . 

One of our researchers  this morning  Googled   The Townsville Bulletin  and it listed  Jenna   Cairney as  the  editor . She departed months ago for Tasmania , the current editor , Craig Warhurst , has  just stated the paper   is not immune from  the  pandemic.

He pointed out  the parent company News Corp had announced 60 of its metropolitan  titles would transition to digital only , but North Queensland mastheads would remain untouched .

The Bulletin and regional papers , the Burdekin Advocate, the Northern Miner and Herbert River Express  were  being  well  read .