About Midwest Times

Midwest Times

The Midwest Times is a free weekly newspaper published for the Mid West region of Western Australia. Distributed free to every household and business and continuously published since 1992, the paper comes out every Wednesday from Seven West Media's Geraldton newsroom — the stablemate of the Geraldton Guardian (published Tuesdays and Fridays). Covering a vast region stretching from Jurien Bay in the south to Meekatharra in the east and Kalbarri in the north — some 40,000 inhabitants — the Midwest Times is the free weekly of one of the fastest-growing regions in Western Australia. The ACMA Register of eligible news businesses lists midwesttimes.com.au as the paper's domain.

Overview

The Mid West — rapidly becoming Western Australia's newest resource and renewable-energy centre, its major towns positioning for phenomenal growth across farming, mining and alternative energy — is the Times' patch: the free Wednesday weekly that lands in every letterbox from the coast to the Murchison. The paper covers the region's transformation: the mines and the wind farms, the grain districts, the fishing towns, the tourism coasts. Produced by the Geraldton newsroom that also publishes the Guardian, the Times is the region's free paper: total household coverage, every week.

History

The Midwest Times has been continuously published since 1992 — the free weekly for a region that was then still defined by wheat, crayfish and the port, and is now being remade by resources and renewables. The paper's 1992 founding gave the Mid West its letterbox paper: the Wednesday drop that reached every household and business, the advertising medium for the region's commerce. Through Seven West Media's 2011 formation, the Times joined the group's Western Australian regional portfolio — the free stablemate of the paid Guardian, the two papers sharing the Geraldton newsroom and the Mid West patch.

Content

The Midwest Times covers the Mid West: the resource developments — the mines, the renewable-energy projects — the farming seasons, the fishing industry, the shire affairs, community events, sport and the region's social life. The Wednesday edition catches the week's news for the free-paper audience: the households the paid press doesn't reach. The paper's journalism is the community-weekly mix: the council chamber, the showgrounds, the football ovals, the main streets — from Jurien Bay to Meekatharra.

Coverage and Audience

The paper's distribution area takes in Carnamah, Carnarvon, Chapman Valley, Coorow, Coral Bay, Cue, Dongara, Eneabba, Geraldton, Greenough, Jurien, Kalbarri, Leeman, Meekatharra, Mingenew, Moonyoonooka, Morowa, Mount Magnet, Mullewa, Northampton, Perenjori, Port Denison, Shark Bay, Tardun, Tenindewa, Three Springs, Useless Loop, Walkaway, Wandina and Yalgoo — the Mid West and the Gascoyne's edge, the coast and the Murchison. Its readers are the region's 40,000 inhabitants: the farmers, the miners, the fishers, the tourism operators, the renewable-energy workers, the town families. Free to every household and business: the region's total coverage.

Ownership

The Midwest Times is owned by Seven West Media, published from the Geraldton office within the company's Western Australian regional newspaper portfolio. The paper shares its newsroom — and its editor — with the Geraldton Guardian: the Wednesday free weekly and the Tuesday/Friday paid paper, the two rhythms of the Mid West's press. Regional advertising is sold through Seven West Media's West regionals operation on (08) 9956 1000.

Digital Presence

The Times maintains its digital presence through the ACMA-registered midwesttimes.com.au domain and Seven West Media's West regionals digital platform, with digital editions available online and the site regularly updated. The Geraldton newsroom's digital and social platforms carry the paper's journalism beyond the Wednesday drop: the Mid West's news, online, for the fly-in-fly-out workers, the southern investors, the region's diaspora. Since 1992, the Midwest Times has been the Mid West's free weekly: every household, every business, every Wednesday.

The 1992 Founding

The Midwest Times' 1992 founding gave the Mid West its free weekly at the start of the region's modern transformation: the crayfishing and wheat economy of the early 1990s giving way to the mining developments, and now the renewable-energy frontier. The free-distribution model — every household, every business — was the right paper for a vast, thinly populated region: the paid press couldn't cover the distances, the free weekly could. Thirty-four years of continuous Wednesday publication have made the Times the region's habit: the midweek paper, the letterbox drop, the total coverage.

The Two Papers

The Geraldton newsroom's dual rhythm — the Guardian on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Midwest Times on Wednesdays — gives the Mid West its press week: the paid tri-weekly's news cycle and the free weekly's household sweep. The reporters cover both: the breaking news for the Guardian, the community weekly for the Times, the digital platforms for all. The shared newsroom is the regional press's economy: one team, two mastheads, the Mid West covered end to end.

The Resource Frontier

The Mid West the Times covers is becoming Western Australia's newest resource and renewable-energy centre: the iron-ore developments, the rare-earths projects, the wind and solar farms, the hydrogen proposals. The paper's reporting follows the frontier: the project announcements, the construction workforces, the community impacts, the environmental debates. For the region's towns — the farming centres becoming mining-service towns, the ports expanding — the Times is the record of transformation: the Mid West remaking itself, week by week.

The Coast and the Murchison

The distribution area — Jurien Bay to Kalbarri on the coast, Meekatharra and Mount Magnet in the Murchison — spans the Mid West's extremes: the crayfishing towns and tourist beaches, the gold-mining centres, the pastoral stations. The paper's patch includes Coral Bay and Shark Bay — the World Heritage coast — and Cue, Yalgoo, Meekatharra — the Murchison goldfields. The Wednesday Times gathers them: the coastal news, the inland news, the region whole.

The Free Compact

The Midwest Times' compact — free to every household and business, every Wednesday, since 1992 — is the free weekly's promise: the region's news, without price, without exception. The 40,000 inhabitants of the distribution area all receive it: the farmers, the miners, the fishers, the shopkeepers, the retirees. For the advertisers — the machinery dealers, the real-estate agents, the retailers — the Times is the medium that reaches the Mid West entire: the Wednesday drop, the total coverage, the region's marketplace.

The Digital Mid West

The midwesttimes.com.au domain — ACMA-registered — and the West regionals digital platform carry the Wednesday weekly beyond the letterbox: the fly-in-fly-out workers on the mine sites, the Perth investors watching the resource frontier, the Mid West diaspora keeping touch. The Geraldton newsroom's expanding digital platforms — the social feeds, the breaking-news updates — make the Times a daily presence between Wednesdays. Since 1992, the Midwest Times has been the Mid West's free weekly: the paper that reaches everyone, in print on Wednesdays and online every day.

The Growth Region

Seven West Media's advertising description — the Mid West as one of the fastest-growing regions in WA, its major towns positioning for phenomenal growth in every sector from farming to mining and alternative energy — is the Times' commercial context: the growth brings the readers, the readers bring the advertisers, the advertisers sustain the free weekly. The paper's 34-year run has tracked the growth: the 1992 wheat-and-crayfish region, the 2000s mining expansion, the 2020s renewables frontier. The Wednesday Times is the growth region's diary: the projects announced, the towns expanding, the community building — every household, every week.