Ash Long has been the Proprietor of Local Media Pty Ltd since 2002. His links with the company’s Melbourne Observer newspaper go back to 1969, more than 50 years ago.

As a 12-year-old newsboy, Ash Long started in the first weeks of the Sunday Observer newspaper, delivering newspapers around the Housing Commission areas of Reservoir and East Preston. It was September 1969, and Victoria had just seen the introduction of decimal currency, and the abolition of six o’clock closing. Norman Banks was the top radio star, television was still in black-and-white, and the name Tattslotto was yet to be invented. They were different times, with different social values. Fax machines and the internet had yet to appear.

The company’s hertiage of more than half-a-century has seen four very different phrases, in many ways mirroring the proprietors of the time:

• Gordon Barton tried a left-wing, anti-war philosophy,
• Maxwell Newton assembled a right-wing ‘red-top’ tabloid, often with vulgar entertainment valyes,
• Peter Isaacson aimed at a responsible, commercially feasible weekly, and
• Ash Long has steered towards a strong community focus, with a skew towards a family and seniors readership, in print and online.

Ash Long’s proprietorship has seen Local Media Pty Ltd expand from the Melbourne Observer weekly newspaper statewide, to also include a stable of free local weekly newspapers under The Local Paper brand. That group commenced operations in 2016, and now produces  localised editions covering 40 local government areas in and around Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula, and peri-urban areas.

A highlight of the company’s history was the company’s production of a free weekly newspaper, The Phoenix, in which $1.3 million of advertising space was donated to businesses in the Victorian bushfire region after the 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ fires that claimed 173 lives.

Long’s working history at the Observer, and its sister Sunday Review/Nation Review titles included distribution, pre-press and press work. In 1973, he became an editorial ‘stringer’ for the Leader Associated Newspapers network operated by the Mott family. He was paid 4½-cents per published line to report on the activities of community groups in the northern suburbs. By 1978, he was registered as an A-grade journalist, soon becoming a senior executive at the Leader group.

In 1983, the Local Media heritage grew as Long commenced his own trial publications such as Video News and the Sunday Advertiser, and buying the Croydon City News and Yea Chronicle titles in 1984. There was rapid expansion with the Ringwood City News, Valley Voice and Waverley City News titles in 1984-85, and the takeover of the inner-city Clarion newspaper from media proprietors Mark Day and Owen Thomson.

From 1984, and for the next 10 years, Ash Long focused on building a newspaper network that included weeklies in country areas close to Melbourne. He purchased the century-old Yea Chronicle business, and expanded into other areas including Whittlesea, Kinglake, Nagambie, Seymour, Yarra Glen and Kilmore. Long sold The Yea Chronicle business in 1993 to Alexandra Newspapers Pty Ltd. The Seymour-Nagambie Advertiser succeeded Long’s proprietorship, continuing for more than 20 years.

The Local Media story continued as Ash Long built the Advertiser newspaper group from 1995-1999 in the Diamond Valley, Whittlesea, Kinglake, Yea, Yarra Ranges, Seymour, Broadford and Kilmore areas. Long’s company produced community television programs in the 1997-2002 period on Optus Local Vision, and Channel 31 outlets in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. These programs included Mansfield’s Melbourne, The Sydney Report, The Brisbane Report, The Adelaide Report, Mansfield’s Memories and Night Owl Theatre. The TV programs included a travel component, with shows also recorded in Western Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands and the United Kingdom. The travel focus contributed in print with specialist publications including Travel Monthly, the Brisbane Sun and Sydney News.

In 2002, Local Media Pty Ltd commenced publication of the Melbourne Observer newspaper, with a focus on local news, showbiz and seniors’ news. A link with radio station 3AW underscored a readership demographic of 39 and over, but particularly in the 55-and-over age groups. The Observer became widely known through its association with the Nightline program hosted by Philip Brady and Bruce Mansfield, and the Overnighters show presented by Keith McGowan. A long-standing team of columnists have been with the Observer for many years. They include: Len Baker (harness racing), Rob Foenander (music), Julie Houghton (the arts), Mike McColl Jones (comedy), Peter Kemp (art), John O’Keefe (columnist), Aaron Rourke (films), Ted Ryan (thoroughbred racing), James Sherlock (movies), Cheryl Threadgold (local theatre), Kevin Trask (entertainment), and Gavin Wood (United States). A team of more than 10 honorary reviewers contribute reports on local theatre productions around Victoria.

In 2016, the first of the Local Paper editions commenced. These are weekly newspapers – available to read in print and online – with a traditional style of local news reporting. This has an emphasis of local people and their doings. When Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation closed the print editions of its Leader newspapers in 2020, Local Media stepped in to fill the void, by commencing localised editions to cover 40 local government areas. The COVID pandemic affected the growth of the Local Paper franchise, but the group (also known as the Melbourne Press Network) is looking to strong expansion as the economy recovers.