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This month marks 12 years since Caerphilly Observer went into print – with our latest edition being number 300.
Originally launched by myself as a website on July 28, 2009, our independently-owned title successfully launched a fortnightly print edition in May 2013 because of reader demand.
We received funding to help produce the first four editions from Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Caerffili Cwm a Mynydd Rural Development Programme Partnership.
The grant was part-funded through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.
Today, the newspaper maintains its print circulation of 10,000 and an online readership of around 80,000 monthly visitors.
The circumstances surrounding our leap into newsprint were a little accidental if truth be told.
I remember meeting Caerffili Cwm a Mynydd’s Phill Loveless at the start of 2013 for a chat to find out what business grants were available to potentially start a print edition.
By the end of the meeting I had agreed to apply and the rest is history. Loads of people wrote us off in the beginning – even the person who deals with our printing admitted to thinking we wouldn’t last long.
There have been plenty of challenges along the way – not least my own professional development from humble local reporter to editor and publisher.
It’s not easy putting a newspaper out every fortnight – and making sure we’re across all the news for our website.
But I am very lucky in that I have an amazing team who all work really hard. And I am also fortunate in that Caerphilly Observer serves an audience that clearly cares about local issues.
Readers often tell us what a great job we do – but you’re also not shy in telling us when we’re wrong and we need to do better.
Believe me, I always value the latter. We are always striving for improvement.
During our 12 years in print, our journalism has been recognised with six Wales Media Awards – including Scoop of the Year in 2015 and Website of the Year in 2020.
The 2020 awards were actually given out in 2021 because of the pandemic.
The disruption this horrible period brought was a turning point for us.
The pandemic challenged us to keep reporting on what was happening, but also to change what we did. We really started to focus on what readers wanted and we turned to you for help with our membership scheme.
Despite getting through Covid 19, the future of local media is still under threat.
Historically, local news has been paid for through local businesses advertising, but this is getting harder to sustain for two main reasons – demographics and technology.
Younger entrepreneurs often no longer see the value in advertising in print and usually keep their marketing activity on social media. What they do spend, they spend it on platforms like Facebook.
That is why we have turned to our readers for help. Without the financial support of readers in the future, we will not exist.
You can support our mission to save local news in Caerphilly County Borough by joining as a member using this form.
Our renewed focus during the pandemic also gave us the confidence to successfully bid for a BBC contract to employ our first Local Democracy Reporter in 2021. I am hugely pleased to say that Nicholas Thomas will now be staying with us after we successfully got the contract renewed after a very tough tendering process.
Our success with the initial BBC contract also served as a model for our Welsh Government-funded Senedd reporter project.
Designed to boost coverage of the Welsh Parliament, we employ a dedicated reporter in Chris Haines whose work is then shared out with other titles, very much like the BBC scheme.
Beginning in October 2023, the project was renewed for a second year and has won praise from all parties in Cardiff Bay (despite initial scepticism) and the wider Welsh media sector.
Together with my colleagues Joanne Burgess, Rhys Williams, Tom Hicks, Nick and Chris, and of course our print proof-reader Barry Withers, we are not resting on our laurels and will continue to work hard to keep our community informed.
Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters
From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts.
Become a member today