Fairfax to ditch weekend broadsheet papers for SMH and The Age
A year after swapping its Monday to Friday editions to compact size Fairfax Media is set to change its weekend editions from the broadsheet format, and close two of its printing plants at the same time.
The final broadsheet editions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will go to press on February 22, with the March 1 editions to be the first to be printed in the compact size.
In effect the move will only affect the front section of the weekend papers which is printed in the larger format, with many of the supplements already compact sized.
Fairfax has confirmed the move, and the closure of the Tullamarine and Chullora printing presses in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, a move signalled 18-months ago in the Fairfax of the Future plans.
Last March the publisher moved its weekday editions to compact size in a bid to stem circulation decline and create more appealing solutions for advertisers, and it also rolled out a new paywall for its websites on The Age and SMH in a bid to monetise its burgeoning digital readership.
However, Farifax CEO Greg Hywood has repeatedly poured cold water on claims by rival publisher News Limited it plans to close its weekday print editions as it looks to move to a more digital-centric approach, labelling them “absolute nonsense” last year.
However, The Canberra Times will continue to be printed as a broadsheet.
Fairfax Rip.
Your newspapers have had it. Your radio stations 4BC and 2ue are unlistenable and you sell all your worthwhile assets like Stayz.
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Well that makes even the Australian look good.
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I gave the Age another go again the other day – just to try to be fair.
It’s not a patch on the Herald Sun, I’m afraid.
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It’s hardly surprising. But when will Fairfax actually do something positive? The papers are awful. The web sites rotten. They’ve sold the good businesses bits (TradeMe etc) and they have a board and management team that behaves very much like a bunch of cannibals who’ve been marooned on a desert island.
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Saturday Age & SMH are still a good read but please Fairfax, do something about presentation. It’s dull, dull and dull. Newspapers should look exciting but the weekday editions are woeful
Take a page out of teh UK Express 7 Daily Mail’s -terrific layouts and exciting.
Even the News Ltd papers are looking tired.
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+1 with Bored
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Save a few bucks, but drive your customers away at the same time. I won’t be buying it in future then.
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Does anyone actually enjoy the physical broadsheet format? I find it mystifying that newspapers are still printed that way, despite it being so uncomfortable to read.
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Really? You guys prefer broadsheet to compact? I’ll assume your only use for the paper is to line the bottom of your pets cage, in which case The Australian is a much more suitable buy for you anyway.
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