A Day in the Life of a Country Editor

By Grace Mist

Springwood, New South Wales, May 2003: Michael Ticehurst is unassuming, softly spoken and with a wealth of historical knowledge about the Blue Mountains. All his life he lived and breathed newspapers. His first job was as a compositor at Cumberland Newspaper and Burns Publishing Newspaper.

With his wife he launched the Lower Mountains Circle in 1963, and in 1965 they amalgamated with the Blue Mountains Gazette. He was 27 then. When he thinks of those early days he remembers his children playing among the stacks of newspapers on the floor.

"The kids were involved since the start," he says fondly. "They used to accompany their mother in the car when she delivered the newspapers."

They all continue their involvement with the newspaper to this day, keeping it a family business. His wife works mainly in the front office now, his son is his assistant manager, his youngest daughter manages the Katoomba office and his other daughter helps out by filling in when somebody is sick.

Last year, the Gazette claimed the title of being the longest running newspaper in the Blue Mountains. Thirty nine years in publication is impressive in a geographical area where about 30 newspapers went broke since the turn of the century.

Even through tough times and at a cost of 70 cents per copy, Ticehurst has kept the newspaper free for all the residents of the Blue Mountains. "The mountains and the outer western area of Sydney were brought up on free newspapers," he says.

Ticehurst employs thirty staff and credits his success to "running a lean and mean operation". Fierce competition from other newspapers through the years and some lean patches taught him to value efficiency and cost. He talks gratefully about his partners, the Rural Press, which offers technological support, in-house training and workshops. They also provide comparative information after each paper goes out and keep him up to date on his financial situation.

"Within 2 or 3 days of publication you know precisely where you are going and if you are going backwards," he says. "I don’t know if we would be here without them."

Some of the Gazette’s content comes directly from Blue Mountains residents in the form of community announcements and letters. "Whenever I go to a newspaper conference other editors cannot believe our good fortune. We receive up to 40 letters a week and we publish about 90% of them. The opinions are very diverse and create lots of controversy. Some of the letters we don’t publish because they could be defamatory. We had an instance when a writer called someone else a ‘fascist pig’ so we edited that. You watch for that as much as you can.

"Often after a publication I wonder whether I should have allowed something to be published or not. Because of the time factor you make quick decisions and if something looks that way I won’t touch it, it is not worth it. It is very expensive and time consuming."

About 13 years ago, Ticehurst experienced a lengthy defamatory case when he published an advertisement the details of which he prefers to leave filed away. It took five years for the case to be heard and after spending 13 days at Katoomba Court, Ticehurst won at a cost of $93,000. "We paid a barrister and an instructing solicitor and there were other costs leading to the court case as well," he explains. "It took me five years to get $60,000 back so we wrote off $33,000. The man who took us to court left the area and cannot be found. It made us very cautious."

When it comes to choosing stories, Ticehurst sticks to local issues and anything that will affect the residents and the future of the Blue Mountains. He is an ardent advocate of sport for young people and sees his paper as one of the only ones in the western Sydney region that reports junior sport in detail. "I get more flack from leaving out something from sporting parents than I get from any other section of the readership," he says smiling.

Ticehurst would like to become more involved in public issues and start writing editorials. At the moment, both his publications only run comments. "We made a comment that led to a mention in parliament once and was very well regarded."

Ticehurst was awarded the Centenary Medal this year for his contribution to rural journalism and long service to the community. While feeling honoured he is more comfortable talking about the award he won a couple of years ago from his swimming club.

Ticehurst swims 30 to 40 laps every Saturday and Sunday at Penrith or St. Mary’s, depending on the weather, and when he doesn’t, he feels he missed his "fix" for the week.
Ticehurst is not thinking of retiring yet. "It’s a great industry and I still feel I have something to contribute. I lose my glasses about three times a week but that’s about all."