How has the Australian newspaper world changed in the first decade of the 21st century? In many ways, but this article will focus on circulation, competition, cyberspace and curiosities.
Circulation: In the middle of 2000, Australians were buying about 18,540,000 capital-city dailies or Sunday papers each week and 10 years later they were buying about 17,060,000-a drop of 7.98 per cent.
The Australian is the only national or metropolitan daily selling more on weekdays in 2010 than in 2000. The only other metros selling more are three Sunday papers: Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun and Sunday Age and Hobart’s Sunday Tasmanian.
Yet the overwhelming picture reflected in the figures produced by the Audit Bureau of Circulations is of an irreversible circulation decline. The sales of Sydney’s Sun-Herald have fallen 23.51 per cent as its direct competitor, the Sunday Telegraph, has increased its lead from 134,000 to 191,000 sales, yet slipped in circulation by 11.13 per cent.
The weekday sales of Adelaide’s Advertiser have plummeted 12.90 per cent, and of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, 9.65 per cent; even Melbourne’s Herald Sun has slipped 6.50 per cent on weekdays. Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, which converted to tabloid format on March 13, 2006, has slipped only 1.06 per cent, but Hobart’s Mercury has fallen 10.24 per cent.
The popularity of regional dailies has nosedived during the past decade. The Cairns Post, one of four big regional dailies owned by News Ltd, is selling fewer papers than it was 20 years ago, Toowoomba’s Chronicle (APN News & Media) is selling fewer than 30 years ago, and Wagga Wagga’s Daily Advertiser (Fairfax) fewer than 40 years ago.
In the past decade, the Cairns Post has lost 14.75 per cent of its circulation, slipping from 30,214 to 25,758.; the Toowoomba Chronicle has lost 19.23 per cent, slipping from 28,392 to 22,932; Lismore’s Northern Star has lost 17.45 per cent, slipping from 17,515 to 14,459; and Wagga Wagga’s Daily Advertiser has lost 17.85 per cent, slipping from 15,045 to 12,360.
Competition: The Fairfax and News groups came head-to-head in two new publication ventures during the decade: the first in a capital city, and the second in the regions. Fairfax launched a free morning commuter newspaper, Melbourne Express, on February 5, 2001, and News launched an afternoon title, mX, the same day. News targeted the 18-39 years age group and Fairfax targeted a slightly older audience. The Melbourne Express went off the rails on September 7, 2001.
News has since extended the mX brand successfully extended to Sydney (July 4, 2005) and Brisbane (March 5, 2007). Fairfax launched its online-only ‘newspaper’, brisbanetimes.com.au two days after the Brisbane mX launch.
The regional ‘bout’ between Fairfax and News took place on the NSW Central Coast, centred on Gosford and Wyong. Fairfax launched the daily Central Coast Herald on Saturday, September 28, 2002. Fairfax lured Dean Gould from the editorship of the Northern Star, Lismore, to edit the Herald, which was a sister publication to the Newcastle Herald.
News responded by issuing a ‘Central Coast Extra’ in the Sydney Daily Telegraph each day from Friday, September 27 (the first issue was hastily pulled together, but it soon settled into a solid 16 pages) and by converting its bi-weekly free Central Coast Express Advocate, into a free daily from September 30.
Fairfax lost momentum and failed to back Gould in the way he expected. The company even dropped ‘Central Coast’ from the masthead from June 2, 2003, only eight months after the paper had begun. The Newcastle and Central Coast dailies both became simply The Herald, with the northern edition badged (in a circle to the far right of the banner) as ‘Newcastle and Hunter’ and the southern edition as ‘Central Coast’.
The final issue of the Central Coast Herald appeared on June 12, 2004, with Newcastle Herald editor Alan Oakley saying that all along the aim had been simply to “extend the footprint” of the Newcastle daily. If this was so, Fairfax had failed to enlighten Gould of this.
John Fairfax Holdings became Fairfax Media on November 10, 2006, and absorbed the largest chain of regional papers in the nation, Rural Press, on May 8, 2008, yet this was seen, even at the time, as a reverse merger. Rural Press interests have come out on top, as a reading of the senior executive postings now indicates. The former Rural Press CEO, Brian McCarthy, has been CEO of Fairfax since December 10, 2008.
Fairfax wields the power in the regions, and News is the undisputed heavyweight champion in the capitals.
Under Chris Mitchell, editor-in-chief since June 2002, the Australian has steadily built up respectability as the national daily, attracting leading journalists from Fairfax newspapers as well as some of the News dailies, especially the Courier-Mail, which Mitchell formerly edited.
Cyberspace: The internet and the digital world have changed the media landscape over the past 10 years, according to Harold Mitchell. In 2000, there were three million online users; now there are 14.5 million. In 2000, Australia had 65 TV channels and 222 radio stations and now it has 130+ (TV) and 700+ (radio).
In the past few months, it has been authoritatively forecast that the internet will overtake newspapers and free-to-air television in 2014 to become Australia’s biggest advertising medium. The iPad generation must now be the target of news-media companies, says former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski.
Curiosities: The real new millennium had barely begun when Granny disappeared. No, it wasn’t Alzheimer’s. The sketch of Granny that had regained pride of place at the head of Column 8 when this well-read feature of the Sydney Morning Herald shifted from Page 1 to the back of the front section on July 31, 2000, was last seen on January 6, 2001. Granny had a masculine look because the sketch was, in fact, a caricature of Sid Deamer, originator of the column in January 1947 and its author for 14 years.
On March 12, 2004, the Koondrook and Barham Bridge, NSW, produced its final hot-metal issue, leaving the Don Dorrigo Gazette and Guy Fawkes Advocate as the only hot-metal newspaper in Australia. The Gnowangerup Star, Western Australia, also a hot-metal paper, had closed on June 26, 2003.
Pictured: Margaret Walker with the hot-metal pages of the final issue of the Gnowangerup Star. The Walker family had started the paper in 1915