Kathryn Barton, Communications Consultant, Sydney
Abstract
The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader is the premier newspaper in the southern suburbs of Australia's largest city, Sydney. Roy Morgan readership figures for March 2000 shows the newspaper, which covers a population of over 391,962 people, has a total readership of 299,000. Circulating twice weekly, The Leader is published in two editions to cater for the residents of the Municipality of St George and those of the Shire of Sutherland, separated (north and south respectively) by the Georges River. With a reach of 80 per cent, The Leader, part of the Fairfax stable of community newspapers, has by far the highest readership and reach of any suburban newspaper in the Sydney metropolitan area. St George edition spans 36 suburbs and comprises 128 pages. Sutherland, at 152 pages, covers 32 suburbs. Nine hours were spent with The Leader's journalistic staff to study the newspaper's production process and the role of the subeditor within that context.
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