Monthly Dorset magazine Seeker News is set to relaunch as a fortnightly newspaper this week.
Staffers include former Echo deputy head of features Nick Churchill, former Dorset Echo sports editor Paul Baker, film writer Anwar Brett and photographer Sian Court.
The free 40-page paper will print an initial 10,000 print-run distributed in Poole and Bournemouth.
Initially started as a website three years ago, editor Steve Cook, a photographer by trade, launched the print magazine in February 2012.
The new fortnightly title will replace the monthly magazine and merge with Seeker Sport magazine, which was launched last year.
“Seeker News will be bright, busy and bubbly. We’ll have a smile on our face, but we won’t shy away from the big issues that matter to us all,” Cook said.
“Too many people are too keen to write newspapers off, but we’re not done yet.”
Cook said: “We’ll support local businesses, triumph the area’s many good causes and continue to offer the same great mix of news, sport, arts and lifestyle stories and features readers have come to expect from us.
“Our readers and advertisers are really excited by the prospect of the newspaper and have been eagerly circulating dummy issues. There’s a lot of goodwill and bags of positive energy behind this launch.”
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