When Fairfax Media’s Central Coast free newspaper, the ‘Sun Weekly’ folded a couple of weeks back, there was talk that the closure marked the end of the territorial war between News Limited and the publisher. But it’s more likely only the end of the current skirmish (writes Peter Coleman).

An end to the weekly thud of newsprint in the driveways of thousands of local homes perhaps, but not the end of publishing. The ‘Weekly’ deliverers always seemed to be the ones to avoid anyway, if you were unfortunate enough to be sharing the road on foot.
But before it went, the newspaper – launched privately in the late 1980s – spawned an offspring which may indicate a way forward … issue one of a glossy tabloid called ‘Coasting’.

Little more than a hushed ‘plop’ by comparison with its predecessor… it’s a new start. And a further indication of a lower-profile approach by Fairfax in the area. Softly, softly to catch the lucrative market, just to the north of Sydney.

Simon Canning in the Media section of the ‘Australian’ this week tells the story of the ‘Sun Weekly’: Launched in 1987 as an initiative by motor dealers and real estate agents to counter the impact of News Limited’s dominating position in the Central Coast, and with the help of former ACP lieutenant Ed Manners. Basically the brief was to create the kind of competition which would encourage News to moderate advertising rates.

After a period of “gentle competition”, things changed when the paper was sold to Fairfax, where then general manager of Fairfax Regional Newspapers Brian Evans is credited with wanting to use it as part of a bigger push into the area.

But the 2002 plan – to launch a daily newspaper based on the then ‘Newcastle Herald’ – was ill-conceived and hopelessly under-resourced. Fairfax put copies of the new ‘Central Coast Herald’ into the hands of city-bound commuters at rail links such as Gosford and Woy Woy, without apparently registering that most had little interest in a product built around a Newcastle newspaper. They were travelling the other way … to Sydney.

News ‘got it’… and responded with not one, but two daily publications: It upped frequency of the Cumberland free ‘Central Coast Advocate’ and added a ‘Central Coast Extra’ section to the Sydney ‘Daily Telegraph’. The latter survives today, although the ‘Advocate’ has resumed its regular biweekly mode.

Canning says News spent an estimated $300,000-a-week at the height of the scrap, and quotes Alan Oakley, then editor of the ‘Herald’, that Fairfax seriously underestimated the ferocity of the News response. The outcome was perhaps, predictable, and a couple of years later, the ‘Central Coast Herald’ folded.

And now the ‘Sun Weekly’ has followed it.

But a more subtle presence remains … and this is arguably the approach Fairfax should have taken in the first place:

• Instead of separate editions for the Central Coast and Newcastle, Fairfax now publishes ‘The Herald’, complementing the print edition with a website which leverages some of the best elements of the Fairfax Digital offering. Both are good products of their type, but do nothing to address the Central Coast market at the moment.

• …and the ‘Sun Weekly’ website has been redressed to become the ‘Coasting Magazine’ site, replete with substantial local news content. If you’re really interested in what’s going on to the north, there are links to sections of news from nearby Morisset – courtesy of the ‘Lakes Mail’ – and Newcastle (the ‘Herald’ site).

Somewhat like the more substantial Brisbane and Perth markets, the Central Coast has become another area in which Fairfax has an online presence but no newspaper.

But wait… While retreating from being a print publisher in the area, Fairfax has left a placeholder in ‘Coasting’, a glossy tabloid, printed heatset at the Rural Press North Richmond site.

When it first appeared, it was a pretty tentative affair, 24 pages of local lifestyle content, mostly distributed at the local Erina Fair shopping centre, with a smaller home-delivered component than its predecessor. We’re told the circulation was 30,000 copies.

And shy, too: Issue one had neither dateline nor imprint, other than a panel listing the names of editor David Stewart, four other writers, a sales manager and a designer. Only the telephone number (initially answered ‘Sun Weekly') led back to Fairfax.
After the demise of the ‘Sun Weekly’, Fairfax’s Kieren O’Toole told me that issues were planned for June and August, “with a view to going monthly”, but he could not discuss its predecessor.

It’s a start: ‘Coasting’ lacks the graphic flair of which Fairfax is perhaps Australia’s best newspaper exponent (and which it demonstrated in 2002 with a ‘Weekender’ supplement accompanying the first week’s ‘Central Coast Herald’). And of course, there’s a lack of substance.

We look forward to seeing a next issue, hopefully with the rough edges smoothed.

And to it taking its place in the Central Coast publishing scene. There’s also the opportunity to pitch it to clients wanting something special… such as ING, which was behind the ‘one day only’ print special produced by the Fairfax websites in Perth and Brisbane recently.

Perhaps history will turn full circle: The motor dealers and property salesmen get together and urge development of an alternative to the Cumberland product – which itself has a glossy weekly property section which used also to be printed at North Richmond – and hey, ‘Coasting’ could be just the vehicle they need.

I’d guess that won’t happen while the ‘global financial crisis’ limits discretionary spending on advertising. At least at first, Cumberland will be on its best behaviour to ensure that the ‘Advocate’ continues to offer advertisers the right product at the right rates.

That’s right. We’re with the line from that old hair shampoo commercial which used to aver, ‘it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen’.