X-Factor finalist and runner-up Jason Owen put the 12-person village of Albert, NSW, on the map. Now Fairfax Media is taking neighbouring Warren – which may have a population 100 times as large – off its.
The 'Warren Advocate' is among the latest casualties of a cull which sees the paper – not yet 60 years old – and Cobar Age (1963, resulting from merger of 'Western Age' and 'Cobar Advocate') fold today. Fairfax has also announced that the triweekly Armidale Express will become a biweekly from November 21.
It has also announced the impending closure of the 'Coffs Coast Independent'.
In Warren – where a front page lead a month ago recorded with amazement Owen’s talent contest success – editor Julie Lincoln broke the news to locals on the newspaper’s website… despite being away from the office after breaking her leg in a cycling accident: “I hit one of my very large dogs at speed when he failed to indicate before stopping suddenly in front of me and I executed a spectacular trick over the handlebars – don’t try that yourself at home,” she writes.
Warren is less than an hour away from Owen’s Albert, on the opposite side of the Mitchell highway. Lincoln – in the editorial chair since 2002 – says the paper existed under various mastheads following its launch as the ‘Warren Herald’ in 1889.
Fairfax publishes a number of titles in the area from its Dubbo base, with competition coming from the “proactive” community owned ‘Condobolin Argus’.
Picture: Opera provides an alternative to crooner Owen at the Warren sporting and cultural centre (from the shire website)