A Thumbnail Dipped in Tar...: The resuscitation of a remote rural community newspaper using the Distributed Newsroom model.
Abstract
Residents of the remote central-western Queensland town of Blackall (pop. 1,833) watched their last locally reported and produced newspaper close in 2001. The nearest newspapers in the intervening years had been and continue to be controlled and produced from Longreach, 200km to the north-west, and in Charleville, another 300km to the south-east. In 2002, a group of Blackall residents formed a committee and asked local officers of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to help them in a project to start a new locally controlled and produced newspaper. Through the DPI, they also approached journalism lecturer John Cokley at James Cook University, Townsville, for advice and assistance. This article documents subsequent preparation for, and publication of, a pilot newspaper called The Barcoo Independent on October 24, 2003, and evaluation by survey, email and telephone interview.
Author Biography
Chris Capel
Chris Capel was until recently the Longreach-based, Queensland DPI Senior Rural Partnership Development Officer and is currently a Principal Project Officer with the DPI. She is a grazier and sits on the Board of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women (FAAW) and also on the executive committee of the Australian Rural Leadership Network (ARLN). She has worked for the Queensland State Government in different roles with project management, community development and policy advice components. She teleworks her role from her home 90km north-west of Longreach. She instigated and then chaired the $3.3 million home internet training project known as BridgIT for the Queensland Rural Women's Network for four years. She is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program.
John Cokley
John Cokley (who has visited Blackall several times since 1989) lectures in journalism at James Cook University.