COMMENT

THANK you to our readers for your support as The Ipswich Tribune continues to be the best-selling paid newspaper in the Ipswich region.

Industry accredited readership figures released by Regional Media Connect shows the Tribune continues to grow since it was established in Ipswich in August 2020 following the closure of multiple regional mastheads across the state.

Your support means we can employ qualified journalists to serve the area in the face of crippling rises in printing costs.

It was encouraging to hear the support from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for regional journalism at the Queensland Country Press Association conference.

The family-owned, local company which established the Ipswich Tribune, Boonah Newspaper Co, is proud to employ more journalists than any other local newspaper – seven journalists across the region, along with additional casual journalists and regular columnists.

The Tribune is locally produced in the region, also employing a large team of staff in production, administration and sales and is printed in south-east Queensland.

While other media companies outsource pre-press editorial production and advertising design to overseas companies, Boonah Newspaper Co supports local jobs in the region.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding and Member for Ipswich Jennifer Howard have used their political profiles in the past six months to mislead the community with false and misleading information about the Tribune and its journalists in public forums.

We will continue to scrutinise the decisions of politicians at all levels of government with honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others in accordance with the Journalist Code of Ethics.

That is a commitment we will not back down on.

- BRIAN BENNION, Editor