On Friday night I had the pleasure of attending the opening night of the Newcastle Writers Festival at our beautiful City Hall.
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Despite the dismal weather outside, the evening was a delight, featuring award-winning journalist Leigh Sales interviewed by ABC radio presenter and author Indira Naidoo about Sales' new book Storytellers.
During the enetertaining conversation, Sales shared her fears for the news industry and democracy, specifically talking about the rise of misinformation and the importance of journalists reaching our audiences where they are, which is often on social media.
Sales spoke of the challenge for journalists to remain impartial in their work, and for our newspapers and websites to remain a source of truth.
It struck a chord with me because I share Sales' passion for independent news, for the media's role in holding power to account, and for continuing the Newcaslte Herald's proud tradition of being a voice for the voiceless, as well as the voice of the Hunter.
You'll have likely read over the past few weeks about Meta's plans to reduce the news available for users of its popular Facebook and Instagram platforms.
What does it mean for you?
A good portion of the Herald's subscribers access their news through our Facebook posts. Others may access us through our app, through Google searches, by reading newsletters like this one or by going directly to our website.
Meta's decision means people will be seeing less of their local news on Facebook.
So, in a world where Facebook is devaluing journalism and reliable information as a source of truth, how can you continue accessing our trusted news?
You can sign up for our breaking news alerts and newsletters!
The Herald has daily news emails available, plus a breaking news alert, a what's on email, a sports email, and alerts to let you know the latest digital print edition has landed or the latest puzzles are available.
To browse our newsletter suite, select My Newsletters & Alerts in your account preference centre.
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We are constantly developing the experience on our app, but it's more popular than ever, particularly with our long-time subscribers.
Sign up for Today's Paper, emailed at 5am Mon to Sat
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Not only do you get access to Today's Paper for each day, but all of the back copies are there too - a great resource for subscribers wanting a copy of the Newcastle Herald from a month prior.
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Thank you for continuing to support local journalism in the Hunter.
Have a great Sunday.
Lisa Allan
