Your local newspaper needs you

By Andrew St John
Secretary – The Toodyay Herald

THE TOODYAY Herald would like to expand its membership.

This is an invitation for more of you in the community to be part of one of the most
successful regional newspapers in WA.

The Toodyay Herald operates in a similar way to many special interest associations.

Any member of the community can apply to be a member of The Toodyay Herald (Inc).

From that membership, which is currently modest, financial members can nominate for
election at the Annual General Meeting or may be co-opted to the Committee should
any vacancies arise during the year.

The Committee manages the monthly operations of The Herald ensuring it is financially viable and supporting the production team who produce the newspaper.

The production team is led by the Editor who determines and is responsible for what
appears in The Herald.

While Editorial independence is critical there remain many ways the Management
Committee and Herald members can ensure the success of the newspaper.

In a climate of dwindling regional newspapers, The Toodyay Herald is thriving.

Some years ago, ABC TV highlighted The Herald as one of three WA regional
newspapers bucking the downward trend and continuing to actively report on what
was going on in their community.

While there remain a large number of local newspapers, many run significant amounts
of advertising, particularly real estate, with little reporting of actual news.

Many in the Toodyay community support the format of The Herald which balances
equal amounts of news with advertising from local traders as well as other larger
organisations including the Shire of Toodyay.

Our advertising revenue is healthy and this support ensures the paper is financially viable
yet there are also challenges.

We believe more members – with new ideas and possibly contributing skills – could
help us address these challenges.

This year The Herald has successfully undergone a change in Editor – Sean Hefferon has taken over from Michael Sinclair Jones who had the editorial reins for a decade.

Last month we suffered a tragic loss with the death of Sandra Harms a professional
graphic artist, responsible for designing advertisements and preparing the layout of The Herald before it goes to the printer.

We have found a local replacement, David Palmer, who has experience in producing other local newspapers.

Yet we currently have no sub-editor, a critical task if we are to maintain the high
quality for which The Herald is known and we feel is important to maintain.

There are other people who help produce The Herald, who are paid modest honorariums and we must not forget our proofreaders who volunteer every month as well as those who assist with distribution.

The success of any organisation is partly dependent on succession planning and
ensuring there is a backup of people who can step into roles at critical times.

Expanding membership may assist with those succession and backup processes.

There is another key need for any newspaper in this challenging environment.

That is to provide ideas and input into how we can ensure The Herald thrives and is able
to report on activities in our local community.

So please consider becoming a member of The Herald – the cost is a modest $15 per
year ($12 concession).

No matter your age, or your skills, we would value your input and with our AGM
on September 21 all financial members are invited to attend and vote.

Shortly after the AGM we will hold a planning session when all members will be invited to contribute as we plot a course to ensuring the future success of The Herald.

If you would like to join us, membership forms can be found at www.toodyayherald.
com.au/about/membership/ or call Heather on 0419 906 083 for further information.