The Murray Valley Standard sold to Victorian company

Murray Bridge News will remain the Murraylands’ only locally owned news service following the sale of Murray Bridge’s newspaper for the fourth time in five years.

The Murray Valley Standard and all of the company’s other South Australian newspapers will change hands in the new year, outgoing owners Australian Community Media announced on Wednesday.

Its new owners will be the Star News Group, based in Victoria, which publishes 32 other newspapers there and in Queensland.

The Star group also has a share in The Border Watch, in Mount Gambier, and two other South East titles.

Managing director Paul Thomas said he planned to “nurture and grow” the newspapers which had joined the group.

“A strong, independent local media is as important today as ever,” he said.

The Standard has been handballed between a succession of large, interstate companies since 1986: Rural Press, Fairfax Media, Nine and finally ACM, who closed its office in 2020.

Murray Bridge radio stations 5MU and Power FM are owned by Sydney-based HT&E, which bought out former owners Grant Broadcasters in January of this year.

Of the three media outlets in Murray Bridge, only Murray Bridge News has local owners: managing editor Peri Strathearn and his wife Keren.

Disclosure: The author was an employee of Australian Community Media between 2010 and 2020.

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