After a ten month period of having no print media, Warren has a new newspaper, the Warren Star, with the second edition hitting supermarket and newsagent shelves this week. 

Co-publishers are Lucie Peart (Gilgandra Weekly and Nyngan Weekly) and Tim Pankhurst (Dubbo Photo News and Orange City Life) and the business partners also jointly produce the Narromine Star.   

The final edition of the long-serving Warren Weekly was 29 June 2022 and since then Ms Peart and Mr Pankhurst, of PPNS News Media, have been working behind the scenes to bring a paper back to the town. 

Speaking earlier this week Ms Peart said they wanted to serve the community of Warren as independent and local publishers.  

“I was asked continuously if we would be interested in producing a paper for Warren, and over the past few months Tim and I have been in discussion with Council and various other local businesses to find a way to make it happen,” Ms Peart said. 

“Gradually it came together, and when local journalist Harriet Gilmore came on board we were good to go!” 

With two editions now under their belt, Ms Peart says the publishers are passionate about connecting with Warren and district residents. 

ABOVE: Co-publisher Lucie Peart, "We’re keen to create a partnership between the paper and the community." 

“We’re keen to create a partnership between the paper and the community so that the people of Warren and district can take back a bit of social licence. It’s so important for regional news and some of the bigger publications don’t always understand this,” Ms Peart said. 

For her part, journalist Harriet Gilmore is loving her new position and says her background in public relations has really helped.

“Some years ago I worked in Sydney in PR and in many ways there’s a similar skillset,” Ms Gilmore said. 

“I’m really enjoying getting out and about in the community. Everyone has been incredibly supportive and keep telling me how excited they are to have a paper again.

"It makes my job really easy when people are so encouraging and keen to share their stories.” 

Community members have welcomed the new paper.  

Regular reader Rhonda Connelly said she had definitely missed feeling connected. “I didn’t realise how much I depended on the paper until we didn’t have one,” Ms Connolly said. “It’s such a nice feeling to open it up and see what people have been up to and what events are in the pipeline.” 

ABOVE: “I didn’t realise how much I depended on the paper until we didn’t have one," said regular reader Rhonda Connelly, pictured with IGA manager Jess Taylor. 

IGA manager Jess Taylor, a big supporter, said she had really missed connecting with the broader community. 

“I really didn’t enjoy not knowing what was going on! Having a paper again brings everyone together and keeps the readership informed, especially the section of the population who are not on social media,” Ms Taylor said. 

“It really created a buzz in the supermarket too. For the first edition, we sold out of papers in the first day and a half, so clearly the town is eager to have it back. Customers were buying three and four copies to send to relatives in other places.” 

“The smell of the newsprint also got me excited. When I smelt the actual paper I was like, argghh, I’ve really missed that!”