Today’s major loss and writedown of mastheads and goodwill by Fairfax will make it more difficult for the company to resist the demands of major shareholder Gina Rinehart, say media experts. Fairfax has…
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 the…
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 their…
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 from…
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…
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…
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 simple…
News Corporation is breaking up. The process will take about 12 months and is subject to shareholder approval. The de-merger will separate News Corporation’s publishing assets from its media and entertainment…
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…
“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…
Last week, The Guardian informed us the Eurozone Crisis will Cost World’s Poorest Countries US$238bn. Really? Not US$237 billion or US$239 billion? Perhaps it was just a wonky headline, and the article…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A week is a long time in the media. Yesterday Kim Williams, the CEO of News Limited, announced a series of reforms to his company. This follows the slash-and-burn announcements by Fairfax Media earlier…
Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull says the ABC will take on a crucial role as a source of well-funded, independent news as the nation’s biggest newspapers continue their demise. Mr Turnbull…
“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…
News Limited has announced it will shrink its divisions in eastern Australia from 19 to five as part of a restructure that will “centralise” operations in each state and cause large job losses. The announcement…