Despite the disruptions, the members of the Country Press NSW Inc have continued to serve their communities, dishing up the local news every week throughout the pandemic. 

Other things were pushed aside, including their own 2021 Annual General Meeting and Conference, so the organisation held a 'catch up' AGM on Friday 1 April at the Dubbo Regional Cultural Centre. 

Members from Deniliquin, Kiama, Narrabri and Cooma gathered in the flesh and via video link to review the previous 18 months, elect their leadership and set their priorities for the rest of the year. 

"It's been a hectic time for us, like everyone else, but local newspapers are coming through this and our association is in a stronger position now than it was five years ago," said re-elected President Lucie Peart. 

"The supply of quality newsprint is a major issue for many of our members right now, with the global paper shortage and closure of Australian mills and, like most other industries, many newspapers are finding it difficult to recruit enough staff." 

"But we've still seen new independent mastheads opening in communities where their papers had been closed and, through our national organisation we've had some major wins for country newspapers." 

Regional publishers at the meeting discussed the spectacular changes of the last 12 months, which included agreements negotiated with Google and Facebook by the national body, a multi-pronged research project which triggered the federal government's Inquiry into Regional Newspapers, and the reinstatement of the highly-valued Cadetships program for country journalists. 

Guests included The Guardian's Gabrielle Chan, Associate Professor Kristy Hess and Lecturer Alison McAdam from Deakin University. 

"Looking ahead, our priorities are to continue to support each other as independent news publishers, and to ask our state government to re-evaluate where they spend their advertising dollars when they are trying to communicate with people outside the major cities," said returned Deputy President Lee O'Connor. 

"We may be small publishers in small towns or small cities, but local newspapers are the trusted voice of their communities – and have been for a very long time." 

"If anything the pandemic has proven the importance of having reliable local sources of information, wherever you are," she said. 

"We will be pushing for greater recognition and support from the NSW Government decisionmakers." 

Alison McAdams describes her news mapping research to Country Press members in Dubbo.

Publishers in the central and north west of NSW continue to figure prominently in the Country Press leadership.  

As well as returning Lucie Peart (Gilgandra) and Lee O'Connor (Coonamble) to their posts, Wanda Dunnett (Narrabri) and Tim Pankhurst (Dubbo) were elected Vice Presidents with Kaitlin Britton (Coonabarabran) and Mark Griggs (Wellington), joining Garry Baker (Deniliquin), Gail Eastaway (Monaro) and Cathy Law (Kiama) on the Country Press NSW council.  

The Country Press NSW will also be marking their 120 year anniversary in October 2022 (albeit two years late), and hope to bring more members and supporters of independent regional media together for the celebrations.