And then, we woke up
I’m glad I’m not in charge of marketing newspapers as a medium.
I genuinely don’t know how I’d go about it.
You may remember the somewhat clunking attempt by Newspaper Works in Australia earlier this year with a survey showing that all was well, along with a somewhat misleading video making some even more outlandish claims to that effect. (I notice they have since disabled comments and ratings on the video which suggests a certain insight into how people may view it.)
But if not the “all’s-well-nothing-to-see-here” approach, then what?
Last year, The Sun newspaper in the UK did it with some panache, with a video promoting the tabloid as the ultimate handheld device.
And I like this new effort by the Swedish newspaper industry, which points towards the more extreme fads around social media and experiential:
(Hat-tip: Digital Buzz Blog)
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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One way not to promote newspapers is by allowing your former editor to drag you into court.
After last week’s Bruce Guthrie v News Ltd trial, why would anyone own News stock?
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That is hilarious, even if it didn’t contain any evidence to back up its claim.
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As a poor old hack in a terminal industry, I gotta say that the Guthrie case has been the best entertainment since Ashton’s Circus left town. Merv, you’re right — why would a company as big as News Ltd allow so much dirty washing to be aired in public. They should have paid Guthrie and kept it all under the rug. Instead we have had the rare treat of seeing how the geniuses who run News operate, and their networks. Who would have thought that Neil Mitchell wanted Guthrie sacked and that all he had to do was drop a word to Blunden?
It also explains why the Herald Sun has turned into New Idea. Guthrie took it up market so these jokers took it downmarket just to be different.
And of course, on top of Guthrie and the Storm scandals, these are the same jokers who are saluting all over the place and saying “Yes boss, that paywall is a fantastic idea, and should I stick another 10 stories in the paper about the iPad.”
And the scary thing is that, no matter how and feeble minded Rupert “king Lear” Murdoch has become his dopey kids are even dumber.
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