Two more publishers have joined the Press Council. Echo Publications, which publishes the Byron Shire Echo and Echonetdaily, has signed up, along with lefty news website Independent Australia.

The Press Council is hailing this as a vote of confidence in it. For readers, it means that they can now complain to the Press Council about any breaches of the Press Council’s principles published in any of the above titles.

The Press Council, which is mostly funded by News Corp and Fairfax, aims for total coverage of the Australian print media. It’s had some big wins lately, with the Daily Mail and Huffington Post’s local outfits signing up last year. But it has yet to sign up the Guardian Australia, which prefers to deal with complaints internally. In May, The Guardian appointed Paul Chadwick as its latest readers’ editor — tasked with considering reader complaints about its coverage. Chadwick was Victoria’s first privacy commissioner and the ABC’s first director of editorial policy.