The Ridge News

The Ridge News was a newspaper at Lightning Ridge between 1991 and 2015. It was established by Melba and Bryan Harford, who had previously operated a newspaper in Queensland. Joy “Maude” Harrison joined the paper in 1996 and later became editor, a position she held until the paper’s closure.

In 2015 the paper was closed by Fairfax Media along with a number of other regional publications. Its loss left Lightning Ridge without a dedicated local newspaper.

Extensive research conducted after the closure found that in the absence of a local newspaper, residents relied on loose alternatives: flyers, council mail-outs, word of mouth; and in later years, social media. With only about half of Lightning Ridge households connected to the internet at the time, many people were left without reliable access to up-to-date information. The absence of the paper was linked to reduced participation in local events and difficulties in following government decisions.

For nearly twenty-five years The Ridge News served the Lightning Ridge community. Since it’s closure, Lightning Ridge has had no regularly published newspaper service.

Article: Edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: ‘Closures and cuts at Fairfax newspapers’, ABC News, 3 November 2015; Mining a news desert: The impact of a local newspaper’s closure on political participation and engagement in the rural Australian town of Lightning Ridge, M. Magic & K. Hess, 2021.