Like them or loathe them, advertorials are now a recognised part of the mainstream press, and a key source of revenue for struggling media organisations.
AAP/Dean Lewins
RMIT professor Sinclair Davidson has recently defended the actions of journalist Paddy Manning, who was dismissed from Fairfax after writing an article in Crikey critical of what he called “advertorial…
Fairfax’s Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie are two of the five journalists currently involved in legal disputes for not revealing their sources.
Image supplied by MEAA
The protection of confidential sources is an ethical and legal minefield for journalists in Australia, despite the introduction over the past two years of so-called journalists’ privilege in several jurisdictions…
Two companies control 88% of Australia’s print media assets.
AAP/April Fonti
Australian media, and in particular the print media, stands out internationally among advanced democracies for its extreme concentration.
Three owners – News Limited, Fairfax Media and APN News and Media…
The problem with Fairfax’s “soft paywall” is that many readers may sample as much content as they can before going elsewhere.
Image from www.shutterstock.com
Fairfax Media is introducing a “soft” paywall for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Initially, the paywall will only affect readers outside Australia, but a domestic version will follow.
Fairfax…
Media bosses such as News Limited’s Kim Williams have been ferocious in their attacks on proposed media reform.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Anyone who has picked up the country’s biggest newspapers in the past week (and that of course includes the nation’s poll-fearing political powerbrokers) would naturally think communication minister Stephen…
Neuroresearch has suggested that readers find Fairfax’s “compact” newspapers more engaging than broadsheets.
AAP
Much of the commentary surrounding Fairfax Media’s decision to go tabloid (or “compact”, as described by Fairfax) has centred around the perceived changes to content. Content certainly matters, but not…
The Age has gone tabloid, but missed an opportunity to be brave.
AAP/Julian Smith
The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald today managed the long-anticipated shrink to a tabloid format without any major loss of dignity.
No shrill DIRTY ROTTEN CHEATS headlines or the like (100 drug probes…
Will reading habits change with paper size?
AAP/Fairfax Media
After 159 and 172 years respectively, the broadsheet tradition has ended for the weekday editions of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Today, both these Fairfax Media mastheads became tabloid-sized…
Roger Corbett told shareholders at today’s AGM that Fairfax Media was in good stead for the future, despite the price of the company’s stock falling by half its value since the beginning of the year.
AAP
The Fairfax Media AGM took place in Melbourne today against a backdrop of financial meltdown in the company’s fortunes. The share price — currently at 38 cents — has halved since the beginning of the year…
Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood said that the company’s 6% decline in revenue was “disappointing” – with no expectations of recovery in the short term.
AAP
Newspapers love a bold, standout headline. But not when it is about them and the news is bad.
Fairfax Media today announced its annual results with a whopping headline figure of a net loss after tax…
Newspapers are finally embracing the digital future: but what do the journalists really think of this?
Image from www.shutterstock.com
As major newspapers in Australia prepare to move to digital-first models, the old idea of a journalistic “priesthood” imparting wisdom to many is shifting.
Our recently released survey, Journalism at…
If Twitter allows us to follow (and share) our interests, then can it make a reliable measure of influence for media groups?
AAP/Tracey Nearmy/Twitter
By Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology
News of significant job losses and organisational restructuring at Fairfax has thrown new spotlight onto the continuing transformation of the Australian media landscape.
It’s clear that newspapers in…
James Packer’s raid on Echo Entertainment has put Australia’s takeover laws under the spotlight.
AAP
It’s been an interesting time for Australia’s corporate watchdog. Financial manoeuvres by Gina Rinehart and James Packer, which saw them increase their holdings in Fairfax Media and Echo Entertainment…
If she is unable to gain seats on the board, Gina Rinehart can still establish a control base by initiating a takeover of Fairfax and offering a premium to shareholders.
AAP
Fairfax Media Ltd’s constitution enables the board to allocate board places in addition to the existing directors up to the maximum number of directors allowed in the constitution – not more than 12 unless…
Certain obstacles – such as Fairfax’s 51% shareholding in New Zealand incorporated company Trade me – play a role in Gina Rinehart’s decision to lower her stake in Fairfax to 15%.
AAP
Hancock Prospecting’s explanation for selling down to 15% of Fairfax suggests it is unlikely either to bid or sell down further in the short term.
Its stated reason was to clear an obstacle – arising…
Media proprietors have complained about Federal Government plans for a public interest test – but are they using freedom of speech arguments to protect their commercial interests?
Dear media CEOs,
Thanks for your recent letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard outlining concerns some of you have about regulation of the news media industry.
First a question regarding your views of…
The problems facing the Australian news media are global; our companies must start providing solutions that their readers are prepared to pay for.
AAP
By Brian McNair, Queensland University of Technology
It took a while, but the Australian news industry has finally caught up with the crisis of journalism which has been affecting the rest of the world for quite some time.
I say “crisis”, but let’s be clear…
The late Sir Zelman Cowen negotiated The Age’s Charter of Independence.
Flickr
After the purchase of the London Telegraph and Evening Standard, someone asked Lord Beaverbrook why he bought it, given the apparently limited financial returns that could be expected. His answer was…
As the “rivers of gold”– classifieds – dry up, there are alternative revenue models emerging – although none offer a simplistic panacea to the media industry.
AAP
Journalists have never been particularly fond of advertising or advertisers – to most journalists, advertising was space and time taken away from good stories and advertisers were commercial interests…
Most reporting still comes from a newspaper: Australia’s media troubles come from a failing commercial model, not a journalistic one.
“Perhaps the single most dishonest aspect of the New Right’s campaign has been its attempt to rubbish and discredit the public sector.”
That’s Keith Windschuttle in his excellent 1983 book, The Media…
Amid the battlefield in the boardroom, Kerry Stokes won the power battle and gained control of the Seven Network. But will Gina Rinehart have the same sway over board members at Fairfax Media?
AAP
There is a lot going on in the media industry at present. It is not a surprise that newspapers (the paper kind) are struggling to survive in the age of the internet. It is more of a surprise, therefore…
Major media outlets predominantly use wire services such as AAP for their online breaking news. But this approach reduces media diversity and can perpetuate errors.
Flickr/Dulnan
In the swathe of important debate that’s occurred in the last week about the massive changes underway in the Australian media, there’s a piece of the puzzle that’s been ignored.
Indeed, it’s a piece that…
Newsrooms across the country are emptying fast.
Flickr/hellvetica
This week’s unfolding print news crisis may have taken newspaper workers by
surprise, but it has an inevitable feel to those who’ve been studying the latest
phase of restructuring in our digital media…
As private newspaper companies decline, it will be up to publicly funded media to provide large-scale journalism.
Flickr/ finishrunfault
Newspaper revenue is sliding. The economics of supporting large teams of journalists no longer work. The collapse of the print business model will diminish the remaining large private news-gathering organisations…
News limited chief executive Kim Williams has outlined a coherent strategy for the future, while Fairfax has relied on panic tactics, stoking fears of a crisis.
So that was the week that was. The Conversation anticipated this would be a big week that required close scrutiny and debate. What we didn’t realise was that first thing Monday morning Fairfax would announce…
Facing a sigital future: the costs of getting your message out are no longer an insurmountable bottleneck.
AAP
As I read it, there is much concern in Australia about Fairfax’s owners becoming more active editorially. But I wonder if this really exposes potentially the lack of value in owning media.
In the world…
Journalists are the principal carriers of the lifeblood of democracy – but having fewer voices means we are vulnerable to vested interests.
AAP
“A newspaper is a private enterprise owing nothing whatsoever to the public, which grants it no franchise. It is therefore affected with no public interest.” – William Peter Hamilton, a former publisher…
No longer a free-for-all: how will paywalls affect the content of Fairfax’s news websites?
By Terry Flew, Queensland University of Technology
As a graduate student at the University of Sydney in the 1980s, I worked with a professor who had over 15 years of copies of The Economist in his office. Stacked from floor to ceiling in the corner office…
Rinehart will experience push-back from Fairfax staff if she tries to change the paper’s editorial direction.
AAP/Julian Smith
It is elementary that most business investors seek to make money. But Gina Rinehart’s investment in Fairfax is not aimed at a financial return. There are a hundred other, healthier companies where this…
Long-time friend of Gina Rinehart, John Singleton believes she should be able to influence editorial decisions at Fairfax.
AAP
For years, in the tabloid media and on talkback radio, we’ve been hearing about the domination of Australian politics by a “new class” of left-wing “cultural elites”, but the Rinehart ascendancy at Fairfax…
Trust in the media is at the heart of issues around Gina Rinehart, Fairfax and editorial independence.
AAP
Amid indications that Fairfax is going into the corporate death spiral – ongoing disinvestment resulting in smaller market share – we’re asking the wrong questions about the future of the Australian media…
Rinehart’s right-wing views may have a new outlet if her tilt at Fairfax is successful.
AAP/PPR
What a dream come true for Australia’s right-wingers.
First of all they can point to Gina Rinehart’s wealth (“the richest woman in the world”) as a sign of Australia’s arrival as a capitalist power and…
Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam joined forces to protect the independence of The Age in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens in 1991.
maintainyourage.org
The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald have maintained editorial independence since the foundation of the newspapers. It is an important principle of all great newspapers, but it is a principle that will…
Gina Rinehart’s involvement in Fairfax is unlikely to alleviate an already polarised and fragmented media discourse in Australia.
AAP
There are numerous indications that mining magnate Gina Rinehart seeks to take control of the Fairfax media group. What are the likely implications of that move, and how would it affect Australian society…
Fairfax Media’s Melbourne’s printing operations in Tullamarine will be closed down under a radical restructure of the company.
AAP
It was less than ten years ago that Fairfax Media’s The Age opened its shiny, new printing presses at Tullamarine.
Billed at the time as “state-of-the-art”, the then Premier Steve Bracks opened the $220…
Fairfax Media needs a patron – and the one on offer is Gina Rinehart.
AAP
Every business needs paying customers. Who those paying customers are varies from business to business. The single largest paying customer for Australian universities, for example, is the federal government…
Gina Rinehart is poised to seize control of Fairfax.
AAP
The next two weeks will be defining moments for Australia. It’s when Fairfax is likely to morph into Gina-fax.
On Tuesday Gina Rinehart, the world’s richest woman, is expected to confirm that she has…
If your morning newspaper disappeared, would you miss it?
flickr/NS Newsflash
The hares are running on the proposition that the Fairfax Media board is considering a medium-term plan to give up on printed Monday to Friday editions of its main mastheads in favour of a digital-only…
Gina Rinehart’s increased stake in Fairfax Media has fuelled speculation of a future takeover bid.
AAP
Takeovers are about control. Gina Rinehart’s acquisition of Fairfax Media Limited shares] – and increased stake in the company – has raised several questions about the nature of control in listed companies…
Strike action by Fairfax journalists show they are prepared to fight for quality journalism.
AAP
Journalists don’t like to strike. Their job is about working under pressure to deadlines. In their eyes, missing a deadline is sin. But last night journalists across several of Fairfax Media’s newspapers…
Mark Scott, managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Welcome to In Conversation, our series of discussions between leading academics and major public figures in Australian life.
In this instalment, Mark Scott, managing director of the Australian Broadcasting…
Murdoch and Rinehart could soon own almost all the significant newspapers in Australia.
EPA/Michael Reynolds/AAP/Tony McDonough
Australia’s wealthiest person, Gina Rinehart has bought shares in Fairfax Media. Should we be worried if she buys a controlling interest in the company that publishes the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and…
“Fairfax looks very exciting,”: mining magnate Clive Palmer expresses an interest in media.
AAP
The mining industry is used to having its voice heard in Australian public debates, so it should come as no surprise that mining billionaires such as Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer would consider buying…
James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Stokes, John Singleton and Gina Rinehart. While Stokes and Singleton have been around media traps for a few years now, the return of a Packer, a Murdoch and the addition…
There’s not much money in newspapers, but plenty of chances to promote your views.
AAP
News that Gina Rinehart has reportedly attained a 12.8% stake in Fairfax Media (and is seeking just under 15%) is bad for the Australian media environment: it potentially puts yet another billionaire in…
John Hartigan would prefer to increase funding to the Press Council rather than face a new regulator.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Departing News Limited CEO John Hartigan has agreed in principle to support increased industry funding for the Australian Press Council but with a caveat.
On day four of the Independent Media Inquiry…
