Tweed Shire Echo - Free Community News and Media Online

Tweed Echo editor Luis Feliu browses Echonetdaily on an iPad. Photo Jeff ‘I What?’ Dawson

This issue is the final print edition of the Tweed Shire Echo, marking the 172nd week the paper has covered local issues in depth and given communities across Tweed shire a much-needed voice in their campaigns to stop inappropriate development.

We will of course continue this tradition on the web and keep you informed on all the big issues that count in our Echonetdaily, and we encourage those not already registered to do so. It’s free and gives you not just Tweed news but a snapshot of all the main news and issues in the Northern Rivers region, around the nation and the globe, with the added feature of video stories.

When we launched the Tweed Echo in August 2008, we were surprised to take the lion’s share of the shire’s read ership so quickly, what with such a saturated newspaper market. But with four existing weeklies giving readers much the same stories, it was hard sometimes to tell them apart – which is never a problem with The Echo!

It was a calculated risk but we certainly punched above our weight and gave the community an important platform. Thousands of readers welcomed and trusted us and our fresh, fearless, independent, balanced and well-researched coverage of issues close to their hearts.

Some of the issues that come to mind which we have reported on widely and thoroughly in order to accomplish better outcomes include the world motor rally, water supply and the Byrrill Creek dam, the development control plan for Hastings Point, protecting prime agricultural land at Cudgen, the Cabarita Beach South caravan-park proposal, the waterway at Chinderah which was doomed to be concreted over for an industrial development, the Noble Lakeside Park expansion plan which residents opposed, the Nightcap Village development at Kunghur, and last but not least, the Kings Forest and Cobaki developments and koala protection.

As we’ve said before, without the Tweed Echo those who want to impose social, economic and environmental destruction on us for their own gain would have an easy ride. They wouldn’t be investigated by the soft-story weeklies, or by the corporate media which is owned by, or allied to, the big money that causes most of the damage.

But we will step up our coverage online and continue to look behind the webs of influence and interest in local and state government and of course to reflect the lighter side of Tweed life.

Don’t forget to sign up for your free Echonetdaily!