The City, the Suburb, the Community and the Local Press: A Gold Coast Case Study

Abstract

Local and suburban newspapers have not generally received a ‘good press’, at least in the relevant academic literature. This article argues that it is time to reconsider the roles and responsibilities of these newspapers in the light of discussions surrounding the nature of community and of community cohesion and conservatism, as well as the relationship of the local to the global. A case study of two Gold Coast newspapers — a suburban and a daily — concludes that, while the suburban paper relies on traditional hard news journalism with little overt recognition of community, the daily pursues a ‘sometimes obsessive’ search for local meaning, image and identity.