Byron Shire Echo

Byron Shire Echo

The logo of Echo
Type Weekly newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s)

The Shand Family, David Lovejoy, Jeff Dawson, Private Media and staff members.

political = Progressivism
Editor Hans Lovejoy
Founded 1986
Headquarters Village Way, Mullumbimby,
Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia
Website www.echo.net.au

The Byron Shire Echo is a free weekly independent tabloid newspaper which is published in the Byron Shire, New South Wales, Australia.

The Brunswick Valley Echo, as the newspaper was first known, was founded in 1986 as a result of marijuana raids by the NSW Police in the valleys behind Mullumbimby. Despite reports that the police acted aggressively and illegally, news media refused to cover the story, so local resident Nicholas Shand founded the paper as a civil rights watchdog.[1] Co-founder David Lovejoy has continued that policy since Shand’s death in 1996.[2]

Over the last 25 years The Echo has grown steadily and currently distributes 23,200 copies every Tuesday.[3]

In 1991 Shand, Lovejoy and photographer Jeff Dawson ventured south of Byron Shire to create the Lismore Echo. This paper was subsequently sold to its employees and renamed the Northern Rivers Echo. It was purchased by Australian Provincial Newspapers in December, 2008.[4]

The Echo launched another publication, this time to the north, in August, 2008. The Tweed Shire Echo, similar in format and outlook to its sister paper, did not attract enough income and was closed early in 2012.

However, August 2011 saw the launch of an online newspaper, Echonetdaily, which is a weekday news service, edited by Chris Dobney, covering the northern rivers region. The video editor is Sharon Shostak,[5] who has also directed a documentary about The Echo.[6] The successful digital publication was suggested by Eric Beecher, owner of Private Media crikey.com.au, who since 2004 has been a minor shareholder in the company.

Staff

The Byron Shire Echo is edited by Hans Lovejoy. He is only the third editor in the paper's history, after founder Nicholas Shand and long-serving editor Michael McDonald. The general manager of the company is Simon Haslam.

Columnists include Mandy Nolan, Mungo MacCallum, Mary Gardner and John Campbell. The chess column is edited by Grandmaster Ian Rogers.

Past writers for the newspaper include Bob Ellis, David Leser and Craig McGregor.

Website

The newspaper's website provides pdfs of the paper going back to June 2003.

References

  1. Fiona Martin & Rhonda Ellis Dropping in, not out: the evolution of the alternative press in Byron Shire 1970-2001 http://www.transformationsjournal.org/journal/issue_02/pdf/MartinEllis.pdf
  2. David Lovejoy Between Dark and Dark: a Memoir (2005) http://www.worldcat.org/title/between-dark-and-dark-a-memoir/oclc/224469870&referer=brief_
  3. Circulation Audit Bureau http://auditbureau.org.au
  4. Northern Rivers Echo http://www.echonews.com.au/news/24480-apn-buys-echo/686190/
  5. Echonet's video library: http://www.youtube.com/user/echonetvideo
  6. The Echo Doco - Born to be Trouble http://www.sharonshostak.com/the-echo-doco.html

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, July 22, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.