About Westside News

Westside News

The Westside News is a community newspaper serving Brisbane's western suburbs, Queensland — part of the Quest Community Newspapers group owned by News Corp Australia. Online-only since June 2020, the Westside News covers the west of Brisbane: the Wednesday paper's community news, sport, motoring, street-watch and lifestyle, for the suburbs from the inner west to the outer west. The Quest group's titles collectively reach more than 1,000,000 readers in print and online weekly across South East Queensland.

Overview

Brisbane's western suburbs — Toowong, St Lucia, Indooroopilly, Chapel Hill, Kenmore, Brookfield, the western corridor — are the Westside News' patch: the community paper for the west. As one of the 20 free suburban newspapers of Quest Community Newspapers (plus the City News magazine and the Sunshine Coast's Weekender), the Westside News serves the district's households and businesses: the local news, the local issues, the local sport — the west's paper. The paper's old advertising rate card described its mission as "capturing the heart of the west": the Wednesday paper, the west's stories.

History

The Quest Newspaper Group was formed in July 1985 through the amalgamation of established weekly free-distribution newspapers across Brisbane: the community-paper consolidation that created South East Queensland's largest free-press group. The Westside News — the group's western-suburbs title — served the west in print for decades: the Wednesday free weekly, delivered to homes, funded by local-business advertising. In June 2020, alongside many other News Corp Australia regional and community titles, the Westside News ceased its print edition and became an online-only publication from 26 June 2020: the digital west, the community news continuing on the screen.

Content

The Westside News publishes the Quest community-newspaper mix: local news and issues, Motoring, Sport, Street-Watch and Lifestyle — the regular sections across all Quest titles. The paper's journalism is the western suburbs' week: the council decisions, the development battles, the school achievements, the sporting clubs, the community events — Toowong to the western fringe. The Wednesday rhythm — the midweek paper — gave the west its weekly briefing: the suburbs' news, free, on the doorstep.

Coverage and Audience

The Westside News' footprint is Brisbane's west: the inner-western suburbs (Toowong, St Lucia, Auchenflower, Milton), the middle west (Indooroopilly, Chapel Hill, Kenmore, Fig Tree Pocket), the outer west (Brookfield, Pullenvale, Moggill) — the western corridor's communities. The paper's advertising material once claimed 79,000 readers each week: the west's households, the families, the businesses. Quest's titles collectively cover the area from Caboolture in the north to Logan in the south: the Westside News, the western piece.

Ownership

The Westside News is published by Quest Community Newspapers, owned by News Corp Australia — the group behind The Courier-Mail, The Australian and the metropolitan dailies. Quest's 20 free suburban titles — from the Albert & Logan News to the Wynnum Herald — are the community arm of News Corp's Queensland operation: the free press, the local advertising, the suburban newsrooms. The Westside News is the group's western title: the west's paper, in the News Corp stable.

Digital Presence

Since June 2020 the Westside News has been an online-only publication: the community news of Brisbane's west, on the Quest digital platforms. The paper's stories — the western suburbs' news, sport and lifestyle — continue for the digital readers: the west's community, on the screen. The Wednesday paper became the daily feed: the Westside News, Brisbane's west, online.

The Western Suburbs

Brisbane's west — the university precinct of St Lucia, the village centres of Toowong and Indooroopilly, the leafy streets of Chapel Hill and Kenmore, the acreage of Brookfield and Pullenvale — is the Westside News' community: the established suburbs, the educated demographics, the engaged readers. The paper covers the west's distinctive issues: the development pressures on the character suburbs, the transport debates (the western freeway, the rail upgrades), the university's expansion, the schools' achievements — the inner west's civic life, reported weekly. The western corridor — the commuters, the professionals, the families — is the paper's readership: the west's households, the Wednesday readers.

The Quest Group

Quest Community Newspapers — formed July 1985 from the amalgamation of Brisbane's established weekly free papers — is the Westside News' institutional home: the group that consolidated the city's community press. The 20 free suburban titles — the Albert & Logan News, the City North and City South News, the Northside Chronicle, the South-West News, the Wynnum Herald and the rest — cover South East Queensland from Caboolture to Logan: the free press, the local advertising, the suburban newsrooms. The June 2020 print closures — the Westside News, the Albert & Logan News, the North Lakes Times, the Pine Rivers Press, the Redcliffe & Bayside Herald, the Redlands Community News, the South-West News, the Springfield News and the Wynnum Herald going online-only; the Bribie Weekly, North-West News, Northside Chronicle, South-East Advertiser and Southern Star ceasing entirely — reshaped the group: the digital Quest, the community news continuing online.

The Wednesday Paper

The Westside News' Wednesday publication — the midweek free weekly, the 79,000-readers-a-week claim of the print era — gave the west its weekly briefing: the local news, the sport, the motoring, the street-watch, the lifestyle. The Wednesday rhythm suited the community paper: the weekend's sport reported, the week's events previewed, the council's decisions covered. The free distribution — the homes, the businesses, the stands — made the paper the west's common read: the suburbs' shared stories, on the doorstep every Wednesday.

The Community's Issues

The Westside News' journalism — the local issues, the development battles, the infrastructure debates, the community campaigns — is the western suburbs' civic record: the paper that covered the fights the west cared about. The character suburbs' preservation, the transport upgrades, the school expansions, the park protections: the community paper's agenda is the residents' agenda. The Street-Watch section — the local crime and safety coverage — served the suburbs' concerns: the west's neighbourhoods, watched.

The Digital West

Since 26 June 2020, the Westside News has served Brisbane's west online: the community news, the sport, the lifestyle — the Wednesday paper's content, on the digital platforms. The Quest titles' digital transition — the communitynews.com.au era, the Courier-Mail's QuestNews integration — carried the suburban papers to their readers' screens: the west's news, searchable, shareable. For the western suburbs' readers — the commuters, the families, the engaged citizens — the digital Westside News continues the community-paper mission: the west's stories, the west's paper, online.

The West's Identity

The western suburbs' identity — the university, the river, the leafy streets, the village centres — is the Westside News' editorial territory: the paper that reflected the west back to itself. The St Lucia campus, the Toowong village, the Indooroopilly shopping town, the Kenmore community: the west's landmarks, the paper's beats. The community's achievements — the school results, the sporting premierships, the local heroes — filled the paper's pages: the west's pride, in print. The Westside News was the west's mirror: the suburbs' stories, the community's record.

The Free Press Tradition

The Westside News' free-press tradition — the weekly free-distribution model, the local-business advertising, the household delivery — is the community newspaper's economics: the paper free to readers, funded by the advertisers who want their attention. The Quest amalgamation of 1985 — the established weeklies joining forces — professionalised the model: the group's sales, the shared production, the suburban scale. The Wednesday Westside News — 79,000 readers a week at its print peak — showed the model's power: the west's attention, the advertisers' market, the community's paper.