Type Weekly newspaper Editor Hans Lovejoy | Format Tabloid Founded 1986 | |
Owner(s) The Shand Family, David Lovejoy, Jeff Dawson, Private Media and staff members.
political = Progressivism Headquarters Village Way, Mullumbimby,
Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia | ||
The Byron Shire Echo is a free weekly independent tabloid newspaper which is published in the Byron Shire, New South Wales, Australia.
Contents
The Brunswick Valley Echo, as the newspaper was first known, was founded in 1986 as a result of marijuana raids by the NSW Police in the valleys behind Mullumbimby. Despite reports that the police acted aggressively and illegally, news media refused to cover the story, so local resident Nicholas Shand founded the paper as a civil rights watchdog. Co-founder David Lovejoy has continued that policy since Shand’s death in 1996.
Over the last 25 years The Echo has grown steadily and currently distributes 23,200 copies every Tuesday.
In 1991 Shand, Lovejoy and photographer Jeff Dawson ventured south of Byron Shire to create the Lismore Echo. This paper was subsequently sold to its employees and renamed the Northern Rivers Echo. It was purchased by Australian Provincial Newspapers in December, 2008.
The Echo launched another publication, this time to the north, in August, 2008. The Tweed Shire Echo, similar in format and outlook to its sister paper, did not attract enough income and was closed early in 2012.
However, August 2011 saw the launch of an online newspaper, Echonetdaily, which is a weekday news service, edited by Chris Dobney, covering the northern rivers region. The video editor is Sharon Shostak, who has also directed a documentary about The Echo. The successful digital publication was suggested by Eric Beecher, owner of Private Media crikey.com.au, who since 2004 has been a minor shareholder in the company.
Staff
The Byron Shire Echo is edited by Hans Lovejoy. He is only the third editor in the paper's history, after founder Nicholas Shand and long-serving editor Michael McDonald. The general manager of the company is Simon Haslam.
Columnists include Mandy Nolan, Mungo MacCallum, Mary Gardner and John Campbell. The chess column is edited by Grandmaster Ian Rogers.
Past writers for the newspaper include Bob Ellis, David Leser and Craig McGregor.
Website
The newspaper's website provides pdfs of the paper going back to June 2003.