The Southland Tribune is born

"The Tribune will shine a light on Southland and the people who call this wonderful province home"

Welcome to day one of The Southland Tribune, a project that's looking if we can do journalism a little bit differently in Southland.

I'll get to a bit about me and why I'm trialling this project, but first let me indulge you with just what The Southland Tribune is.

What is The Southland Tribune?

In simple terms, The Southland Tribune is a digital 'newsletter' (powered by Substack) that will be sent via email to subscribers. It’s easy, just add your email address to subscribe and enjoy the read.

Content will also be able to be viewed online at southlandtribune.substack.com and through our social media channels. 

There is also a Substack App available on IOS and Android where you can keep up with Tribune posts on your phone as they are published. You can download that App here.

The Tribune is here to shine a light on Southland people, its businesses, key issues and the great aspects of this wonderful province.

You can be assured The Tribune will be fiercely independent without any political influence. However, there is one bias we will never apologise for.

We live in New Zealand's 'shit-hottest' region and The Tribune will ensure that is celebrated. We will champion Southland as a region and the people who call it home.

We won’t cover everything that moves in Southland. If there's a two-car crash on the corner of Tay and Kelvin St you won't read about it through The Southland Tribune.

We are not here to compete with existing daily media outlets. Instead, the plan is to offer different stories written in different ways.

With world-class parks like Queens Park in Invercargill why wouldn’t you love Southland?

We are keen on developing projects/partnerships that will try to engage younger people with what is happening in Southland.

We'll have some fun with our content, dish up some nice long-form profile yarns, but get serious when we feel there is a matter that deserves that attention. We intend to introduce podcasts into the mix over time.

As part of The Tribune, we’ll rustle up “Spotlight on Sport” offerings. It will include delivering a special Sunday edition to subscribers’ email inboxes.

We’ll also keep an eye on council happenings through our “Council Watch” offerings.

Initially, the content The Tribune publishes will be free for all to read. We will then introduce subscriber-only articles in the coming weeks. 

Although if you see value in this project from the outset, we'd love for you to jump on board as a paid subscriber/supporter. Every dollar will go towards increasing the number of Southland stories we tell.

It's up to me (with the help of some guest writers/podcasters) to deliver the interesting/informative/entertaining yarns that people value.

A bit about me (Logan Savory)

For close to two decades, I have worked in the "traditional media" landscape. Much of that time at The Southland Times and Stuff, broken up by a brief stint with Allied Press.

A lot of it has been spent covering sport but in later years I have also penned stories ranging from politics to business and everything in between.

I've loved that change and it took plenty of pondering when deciding to step away from that to take on different projects that don’t have the same income certainty.

But you only get one go at life, so here we go.

Southland Tribune editor/writer Logan Savory.

It should be pointed out The Southland Times, and the ODT for that matter, will continue to cover the province’s big daily issues.

The Southland Tribune project is about testing if there is a desire for different types of Southland stories, told in different ways. We’re testing this with reader support the key focus, in terms of revenue.

After some advice, encouragement, and a touch of inspiration from others The Southland Tribune project has been born.

Included was Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie - a good Central Otago lad now making his mark in the US. His story is worth delving into.

The final bullet point in Hamish’s snippets of advice for me simply stated; "Have fun!". That's certainly the intention.

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie grew up in Central Otago.

Peri Strathearn is another who provided some words of encouragement, as well as hope.

Strahearn founded the Murray Bridge News offering in South Australia through Substack in 2020. He has built a successful following - with the backing of his community - serving a region with a population of just 25,000.

His advice summary finished with: “Do it! You’ll work harder than ever, but you’ll love every minute of it.”

So here we are, it’s time to give this a whirl and see where it ends up.

The first "digital newsletter edition” will land in Tribune subscribers’ inboxes this afternoon. So, chuck in your email address and enjoy the read.

I do hope you jump on board, whether it is as a subscriber of our free content, back us by becoming a paying subscriber/supporter, or simply help spread the word that The Tribune has been born by sharing this post.

Your support of The Southland Tribune, in whatever form that may be, is much appreciated.

Any questions or feedback you can get in touch by emailing logan@southlandtribune.com

Regards,

Logan Savory

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