By Matthew Pearce
The revival of independent newspapers took a strong new step last month with the resumption of printing at the Rockhampton print site.
The sounds of the presses were silenced last June following the closure of News Corp’s regional newspapers, but Today Print marks an exciting new beginning for Queensland media.
The former APN Print site at Hempenstall Street, Rockhampton is back up and running again following the press’s purchase from News Corp.
The site will print Today Group newspapers from across Queensland, including Gympie, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Noosa, Burnett and Kingaroy mastheads, as well as the most recent launch, Ipswich News Today.
In the future, the sky’s the limit for Today Print, with plans to print other newspapers from throughout Queensland and pick up commercial work.
Director Paul Thomas said Today Print was an important investment back into Queensland.
“This is a significant restart of an important industry that will service the whole of Queensland, based in Rockhampton,“ he said.
“We have a group of passionate independent publishers behind the Today papers and we hope everybody will embrace what is an amazing facility for the state.”
Operations manager Wayne Layt, who worked at Rockhampton’s Morning Bulletin and APN Print for 20 years, said Today Print had already re-employed 10 staff, who had previously worked at the print site.
“Our staff are very happy to be back at work, it’s their trade and they’re happy to be doing it again,“ he said.
“It’s been a big effort to get the site back up and running after it was closed for nine months, but the presses are finally running in Rockhampton.“
