Fairfax bosses join Mumbrella360 lineup to debate the death of newspapers
Four of Fairfax Media’s most senior personnel are to come out fighting on behalf of newspapers in a session at June’s Mumbrella360 conference.
Jack Matthews – newly appointed as CEO of the new Metro Media business unit of Fairax; Paul Ramadge, editor-in-chief of The Age; Mike Van Niekerk, the digital editor-in-chief of Fairfax Media and senior writer David Marr will take part in the panel.
The session – entitled Newspapers are dying: Just another old chestnut – was proposed by Fairfax as a curated session and voted for by Mumbrella readers. The session is curated by Fairfax’s director of trade marketing and insights Liz Ross.
Mumbrella360 takes place on June 7 and 8 at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.
After debating the issues including the move of classified ads to online, the decline in print circulation and the rise of multi-platform brands, the session will culminate in the audience being asked to vote on whether they believe newspapers are indeed dying.
Other sessions and speakers already announced include an opening keynote from Richard Freudenstein, CEO of the Australian and News Digital Media; four separate discussions on marketing to Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z and baby boomers; an attempt to create a new manifesto for the media industry; a marketing experiment on the audience conducted by Naked Communications and a debate around advertising ethics. Also speaking are comedian and TV presenter Dan Ilic on how to find TV-sized audiences in the digital age and the Interactive Advertising Bureau is to curate a session on the future of online audience measurement in Australia.
More details of the conference are available at the Mumbrella360 website.
Tickets for the conference have just gone on sale with an early bird price until April 15.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Really? The death of newspapers debated by the dying?
Thats like having a debate with four members of the labor party about why they shouldn’t be voted out.
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Hi Ummm,
This session was proposed by Fairfax via our reader-voted curated sessions. It was among the most popular (and you had to already be registered for our daily email so difficult to rig), which suggests there is an interest in hearing it from the horse’s mouth.
The proposition will also be tested by a vote from those present, so if they fail to make the case then there will be no place to hide.
Personally, I think it’s going to be a fascinating session.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I think a more interesting topic would be “will the death of newspapers result in a serious erosion of political accountability”.
But then again, it might be hard to find people to speak against the motion.
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The death of newspapers is a silly topic, when what we’re really talking about is the death of paper. Digital is like the printing press before it, it enables the distribution of de-centralised, non-homogenised content to the masses, it just does it times a million.
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Surely this is a bunch of plain old spin. Fairafx and especially the newbies will be anxious to show the regime (the Big W guy) that all is in hot, cool, fabulously sexy hands. Otherwise, of course, people might ask what the hell David Marr knows about the death of newspapers? Or, possibly, anything relevant? I mean. Really. ……………………..
Fairfax needs less newsprint. Yay! Can we get onto the subject soon?
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No Hal, death of paper is death of newspapers.
No one has figured out a way to make digital pay in the same way as print.
There are no websites able to fund reporters who focus every day on state and federal politics, courts, police rounds, local government etc etc etc.
Online newspaper sites are still getting these from print budgets. When the print goes, those reporters go, and it’ll all just be celebrity tat, press releases and unsourced rumours.
Until the “millions” accept they should pay for news. Not demand it free. PAY.
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Agree with Mike there will be less political coverage.
I think people will pay for news. However a bunch of businesses will get incredibly small or stop existing before we get to that point. Won’t be much fun as a process.
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