With no takers and no sign of government support, Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media has gone ahead with its “proposal” to close eight regional NSW newspapers, blaming Facebook owner Meta for the decision.

The move follows last month’s closure of two NSW central-west newspapers, and comes a year after ACM ran full-page ads accusing the federal government of pulling advertising support from its newspapers.

Mastheads of the Inverell Times, Moree Champion, Tenterfield Star, Glen Innes Examiner and Country Leader in New England and north-west NSW, Dungog Chronicle and Gloucester Advocate between the Hunter Valley and the Barrington Coast, and the Milton-Ulladulla Times on the South Coast, are being continued “to provide audiences with continued access to the news and sport coverage of their regional cluster”, as well as national news, sport and comment content.

Printed editions have ceased – joining the Blayney Chronicle and Oberon Review, which ceased publication on August 22 – with most staff being been made redundant. Earlier this month, ACM managing director Tony Kendall said that “every title” in ACM’s portfolio had been affected by Meta's decision to withdraw its funding, as well as by increased production costs.

“Our newspapers also face reduced revenue from display advertising, including from state and federal governments, classifieds and print circulation,” he said at the time.

He called on governments to restore “a fair share” of their advertising budgets to regional newspapers, without which ACM needed to “make prudent decisions that support the continued sustainability of our local journalism and the digital future of our business”.

A year ago, ACM ran a whole-page advertisement headlined, ‘This should be an ad from the Australian Government’ to push home its message, asking why federal government advertising rarely appeared in its regional newspapers.

Copies of a special edition of the Canberra Times were delivered to the Parliament House offices of every one of the 76 senators and 151 lower house members in Canberra.

In an open letter, ACM said government advertising in regional papers had fallen by more than 70 per cent in the 2022-2023 financial year.

Pictured: The stark message from the Blayney Chronicle last month, and (above) last year’s special Canberra Times edition