The history of THE NEWS has been long and colourful, having survived two disastrous fires and a total of four moves while remaining in the McPherson family for more than a century.

Thomas Haslem established the Shepparton News in September, 1877, in High St-Welsford St, as a weekly, four-page paper selling for sixpence a copy.

Eleven years later, in what was to be the beginning of an historic association with the McPherson family, Colin McPherson, a farmer from Congupna, purchased THE NEWS.

Colin was described as, "upright and straightforward and as a journalist, never hesitated to give his opinions on public matters".

In 1892, THE NEWS was one of the first newspapers in the district to replace the old hand press with a Wharfedale cylinder press driven by a gas engine.

The business moved to High St in 1893 after a fire.

Little is known of the early days of the newspaper as most of the records were destroyed in this fire, however, some files still exist in the LaTrobe Library, Melbourne.

Colin McPherson never enjoyed robust health and he leased the business in 1900 to a partnership of Edward Morgan, Thomas Horan and Alec Simpson.

In 1910, Horan and Simpson retired from the partnership and founded the Goulburn Valley Stock and Property Journal.

Morgan continued to manage the business in partnership with Colin's wife, Jean.

Colin had died in 1901 at the age of 46.

His three sons, Malcolm, Stanley "Roy" and Douglas, followed him into the business.

Malcolm assumed control of the paper until 1914, when Roy took over on his 21st birthday.

Malcolm later enlisted and fought in Gallipoli but died in a hospital in Gibraltar.

Douglas assumed the position of company director and Roy the manager, with Roy remaining at the helm for 45 years until his death in 1960.

Roy's only son, Donald, joined THE NEWS in 1946 after discharging from the RAAF, and on Roy's death became chairman and managing director.

Don began an expansion program, taking in several papers around the district.

In 1951, tragedy struck when fire again gutted the premises, but the company managed to rebuild and extend.

During this era, THE NEWS won a long and bitter struggle with the Shepparton Advertiser, and the two merged in 1953.

In 1963, the business moved further east in High St, and began printing on a Goss rotary press - the first for a country newspaper.

THE NEWS changed from a tri-weekly production to become Victoria's only afternoon daily newspaper in July, 1972, costing just 7¢.

After almost 40 years in management, Don McPherson retired in 1985, but retained the position of chairman of the McPherson group.

He leaves the day-to-day management in the hands of his three sons, Ross, Chris and Paul.

THE NEWS moved from High St in 1988 to its current Melbourne Rd site which, when constructed, was considered "state-of-the-art", costing $2.6 million.

Always keeping up with advances in technology, THE NEWS introduced the Cybergraphics computer system in 1987, revolutionising the paper and tying in all areas of newspaper production from taking classifieds through to story writing, editing, typesetting and production.

In 1990, THE NEWS switched from an afternoon publication to a morning publication and, in 1998, it went online, giving the world a glimpse of life in the Goulburn Valley.

Today, THE NEWS is a major printing operation with more than 50 major publications coming off the press each week.

There are 103 full-time staff and 96 casual staff employed at the Shepparton office, and a further 193 staff members are employed outside Shepparton by the McPherson group.

Other newspapers in the group include the Deniliquin Pastoral Times, the Campaspe Valley News in Rochester, the Southern Riverina News in Finley, the Seymour Telegraph, the Riverine Herald in Echuca, the Cobram Courier, the Kyabram Free Press, the Tatura Guardian and the Benalla Ensign.

THE NEWS also now produces a number of specialist publications that are inserted in THE NEWS, including Country News, Bridal Affair, What's On, Weekender, At Home and more.