By Alistair Gray
When the first issue of The Local Island Surrounds News launched in July 2016, Belinda Ferguson could never have imagined how far it would come. As the owner of the only newspaper servicing Bribie Island and surrounding suburbs, Belinda is beyond proud of the paper’s latest achievement – reaching 100 issues! The Local News comes out every 28 days with the consistency of an old-fashioned timepiece. That is eight years of hard work and service to our local community from Belinda and her team.
Love or hate the paper, one can't deny the vital role the paper plays in our community in providing a communication channel to support everything local. As a result, this sometimes means controversy and differences in opinions as the paper engages with its readers. Since starting the paper all those years ago, Belinda has actually never been interviewed. With 99 issues already out there in print, it was time! I sat down with Belinda and learned a little about her career and the challenges of running a local newspaper.
Belinda, also known as Bee to her friends, went to Keebra Park High School, moved out of home at the age of 16 and started work in a surf shop on the Gold Coast. She discovered a passion for sales and sold women's wear and men's boardies in a retail operation. After six or seven years, Belinda moved to Sydney and worked as a travel agent. Then, she got a job as a sales rep with government stores and was on the road selling. Belinda then spent some time in telecommunications before joining the Show Group. The Show Group was the travel agent of the film, entertainment and sports industry. They looked after all the large international and local bands who were touring, which meant she saw some great shows and entertainers, including meeting Michael Jackson and getting his autograph. The Show Group looked after air, accommodation and car arrangements, with Belinda making many proposals to win business. She used to look after arrangements for film companies when they were out on location, even taking care of the transport of film rushes (raw footage) that had to be sent back daily for editing. She was there for about 10 years, before moving back to Queensland and taking on the membership manager role at Pacific Harbour Golf Club, selling transferrable memberships. Belinda also worked with Lisa France in the electoral office.
Belinda’s biggest strength is in selling and business development. She had already developed many strong relationships with local businesspeople on Bribie and saw the opportunity to set up her own newspaper. On July 28, 2016, the first 28-page issue of The Local Island and Surrounds News came to life and the paper only grew from there.
"I love the community and thought we needed a good independent paper,” Belinda said.
At the time, the News Corp owned Bribie Weekly serviced the island and their focus was not on local news. They suddenly stopped delivery when Covid hit.
"It was tough for the first couple of years and I struggled,” Belinda said. “with many mistakes made, but I learnt from the feedback because all the readers would tell me how many mistakes I made. "There is one mistake that stands out above and beyond everything.
When one of the writers interviewed somebody, he asked ‘what is your favourite meal? Chilli Crab.’ Instead, he wrote Chilli Crap and we printed it 24,000 times. “Now, I have such a good team that takes care of all the editing for me so I can focus on the business, the sales and the admin.”
When Belinda started, she was determined to operate her business properly, take care of all fundamentals and meet all her obligations. To do this, she employed a top accountant to teach and support her. One of the biggest challenges in starting out was ensuring she had enough advertisers to pay the overheads. Heaps of content was available, but none of that is worth it without the advertisers to cover the costs, so careful budgeting and managing the advertising funnel was critical to her success. Initially, it was a slow process, but the business grew as Belinda learnt from the feedback.
One of the great successes was the Cranky Lizard and Contemplations columns written by the late great Harvey Fewings. These columns enabled Belinda to gauge what the readership was thinking and what people were saying by the many incoming Letters to the Editor. There were readers frustrated by what Harvey was writing. They would write in and hate what he had written, yet next month, they would say they couldn't stop reading it. Feedback and community views are all part of the fun and life of running a newspaper.
I asked Belinda what made our newspaper different and what had contributed to its longevity in an era dominated by digital media?
"It's our demographic and our little local community likes their local newspaper because we focus on local issues. Mainstream media does not focus on local issues,” she said. “The one thing I do like is controversy. I like people to read the paper and either get cranky or agree. That is engagement and that is what it is all about. “What I love about my writing team (Alistair and Sheree) is they cover local stories you can't find anywhere else. We are also the only newspaper to deliver to driveways and we are consistent every single time with the timing of our delivery. The paper also provides a platform for locals to talk about local issues, which is very important in our community as there is nothing else out there that does those things other than social media. “The challenge with producing a printed newspaper is the cost of printing, which has risen 40% in the last three years. That is huge and hard on the local advertisers.”
I then asked Belinda how she navigated the balance between providing unbiased news coverage and serving the interests of readers and advertisers?
"I try to be balanced, to have balanced articles and I am always prepared to be challenged on local issues,” Belinda said. “So, it is tough when there are certain members of the community who don’t communicate or talk with you, especially on big local issues.”
With 100 issues of the paper done and dusted, what does the future hold?
"One hundred issues is a big achievement. It is a massive achievement. I didn’t think I would get there, but I am here and plan to do 300 more,” Belinda said. “The legacy I want to create is that the community continues to talk about subjects that are a bit controversial and to have a paper that continues to engage the readers. Not everybody will think the same way and not everybody will have the same political aspirations, but it is good for people to debate the issues.”
Despite all of her own achievements, Belinda knows none of it would be possible without those who have supported her. Belinda acknowledges her mentors who helped her along the way - the late Harvey Fewings and Damien Brown - and more recently, Michael Thomas. She is grateful for their advice, wisdom and support during many challenging times.
Belinda also wants to take this opportunity to acknowledge her amazing team:
Kym Braithwaite - operations and editing;
Roger Small - design and advertising;
Sheree Hoddinett – writing and editing; and
Alistair Gray – writing.
Without their dedication, teamwork and commitment, none of the paper's success would be possible. Finally, Belinda would also like to thank her advertisers for their ongoing support and all of our loyal readers for being there and being such a vital part of making our community such an excellent place to live.
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