When the Glen Innes Examiner ceased printing in September 2024, our community lost more than a physical newspaper.

We lost a familiar and trusted part of local life: something people could buy, hold, read at the kitchen table, discuss over coffee and pass on to a neighbour. For generations, the Examiner recorded the decisions, achievements, disagreements, celebrations and challenges that shaped Glen Innes and the surrounding district.

Its loss highlighted a difficult reality confronting regional communities across Australia. The traditional business model for local journalism is under significant pressure, while global social media platforms and AI-generated content are reaching ever deeper into our lives.

In that environment, strong local journalism is not a luxury. It is part of the civic infrastructure of a healthy community.

The end of the printed Examiner created both an opportunity and a risk.

The opportunity was that members of our community stepped forward to help fill the gap. Community-led publications can celebrate local people, promote events, support volunteers and provide a platform for stories that may otherwise go untold. That contribution should be recognised and valued.

However, the risk emerges when community publications move beyond community news and into political reporting, commentary or public accountability without the professional standards that established journalism requires.

Volunteer writers may be passionate, committed and well-intentioned, but they are not necessarily trained journalists. That distinction becomes especially important when reporting on council decisions, political disputes, public expenditure or allegations involving individuals and institutions.

Professional journalism is underpinned by disciplines such as verifying information, seeking comment from all relevant parties, separating fact from opinion, correcting errors, identifying conflicts of interest and providing sufficient context for readers to reach an informed view.

Without those safeguards, political reporting can become selective, incomplete or overly influenced by personal perspectives. Sometimes the problem is not........

© The Examiner