Australian Community Media (ACM) said it had "Altered the publishing frequency of some community newspapers as it responds to COVID-19's continuing economic impact on regional areas".

ACM would not confirm how many newspapers were affected by the decision to reduce editions, but it included the Lithgow Mercury, which services a community of about 21,000 residents in the Central West of New South Wales.

Readers were advised in a news article in mid-September that the printed edition of the publication would no longer appear on newsstands twice a week.

An ACM spokesperson said the decision was an "Unavoidable consequence" of the pandemic but would help ensure a "More sustainable future".

The company's 14 daily newspapers and weekly agricultural publications, including The Land, were unaffected.

Still 'Committed' despite cutbacks & $10.4m handout ?

The decision follows a difficult few years for regional news outlets, culminating with the pandemic which has seen dozens of mastheads close around the country.

The federal government announced a fund to invest in companies with a regional presence, of which ACM was the largest individual recipient, when it was given $10.4 million.

The purpose of the Public Interest News Gathering grant was to support outlets to "Maintain or increase their production and distribution of public interest journalism in regional Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic phase".

It's hard to see how newspaper closures & cutbacks qualify chelp "Maintain or increase production and distribution of public interest journalism in regional Australia'.

Regardless, ACM said its commitment was "Unchanged" and the newspapers would "Continue to cover essential local news on their websites between print editions".

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) has been tracking the state of Australia's media since 2019.

"Regional and rural Australia has been adversely affected relatively to the metropolitan capitals, so about 70% of contractions are happening out in the regions," PIJI chief executive Anna Draffin said.

"We're still going through a significant period of transition adjustments, most notably the recovery off the back of the COVID economic impact that's continuing into this year, and the bushfires that preceded them as well, so it is a continued state of uncertainty."

Fears local news will be a 'Distant memory'

In the Central West, the 155-year-old Grenfell Record is one of the newspapers affected.

Grenfell resident Helen Carpenter said the physical office of the newspaper was vacated in 2018, and the publication had soon after lost its "Community feel".

She said residents felt they had lost the "tradition" of visiting the newsagent twice a week.

"For those isolated by age or loneliness, going to the paper shop is the only social interaction that they have, especially in COVID times," she said.

"It's taken three years to go from a community-based-and-supported local paper published twice a week to a paper published once a week by outsiders with no connection to our community.

"How long will it take now for it to be lost forever and become a distant memory?"

Not all bad news ?

Ms Draffin said there was "Room for optimism".

"There are some green shoots appearing across regional areas, where there are digital titles that are appearing in communities or community-led pop-ups, some … are returning to a limited print edition as well," she said.

"But it is still early days as to what will be the ongoing continued service in each community."

Independent titles have sprung up around the country in the wake of the withdrawal of some regional mastheads.

Professor Monica Attard, from the Centre for Media Transition at the University of Technology Sydney, said it was possible that halving the deadlines for journalists could actually result in more news being provided to readers.

"If there's a commitment from proprietors to make sure that the resources that have been allocated to that newspaper are not in fact being cut back, that's the critical point," Professor Attard said.

"If the resources remain the same, the number of journalists working on the publication, digital or print, remain the same, that's great.

"But we often see that that's not the case — these are commercial decisions being taken for the benefit of proprietors."

Story By | Mollie Gorman