Australian Community Media (ACM) will no longer offer printed editions of its weekday editions of The Central Western Daily in Orange, the Daily Liberal in Dubbo, and the Western Advocate in Bathurst.

The three Central West NSW mastheads will instead move into a new publishing model that will see digital subscribers receive daily local news, sport, and breaking news alerts across platforms. An expanded weekend print edition will launch from Saturday, 24 August.

ACM Managing Director, Tony Kendall, said: “ACM is evolving to be Australia’s leading regional and rural digital media company, and it’s important that we evolve our products to meet the modern reader’s preferences. This new model follows changing consumption habits among readers, plus unsustainable production costs in these markets and reduced support from Government and Meta.”

The new model is said to be a response to changing consumption habits among readers, unsustainable production costs in these markets, and reduced support from the Government and Meta. Since launching digital subscriptions in 2018, the titles have seen 15% annual growth in paid digital subscriptions over the last three years.

“In recent years, ACM’s Central Western NSW communities have embraced our digital subscription offering and this new model allows them to have the best of both worlds – with digital access on the go and a bumper weekend print edition," said Kendall. “The Western Advocate, Central Western Daily and Daily Liberal have proud histories of serving the cities of Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo with quality, independent journalism and that will absolutely continue as we focus on the products that meet our readers’ changing consumption habits and continue to have a sustainable model for local journalism."