From Chris Mitchell to Boris, life under leaders new and old at The Australian
Life working on The Australian under Chris Mitchell was never dull. Ex-Australian journalist Simon Canning looks at what has been and what is to come under new boss Paul Whittaker.
And so Chris Mitchell has gone, his departure from The Australian met with a measure of relief by those working at the coalface of the national broadsheet, mixed with a level of trepidation about the arrival of Paul “Boris” Whittaker.
In the pair, the master and his apprentice, there could not be two characters more different in their approach to achieving the same ends.
What those ends are, of course, depends on where you view The Australian from: internally it is seen as the paper of record for Canberra and the driver of the national debate; from Canberra a powerful arm of the most powerful media baron in the world to be feared and courted in equal measure; and from the perspective of rivals such as Fairfax and the ABC, it is a savage competitor willing to take no prisoners regardless of the concepts of editorial balance.
What if they publish a product and no one notices? Essentially that is where the trend is going. Cannings account of the evaporation of value in the media section corresponds with equal collapse elsewhere. Nowhere more obvious than the opinion/news pages where repetition and stridently asserted views are presumed to be at the same time authoritative.
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
It seems pretty clear that both editors are more interesed in aggressive vendetta journalism and ideological warfare, rather than pushing for stories that are actually in the public interest. In most cases, and especially in recent times, they have failed to drive decent journalism. But they’ve also both failed on the other main KPI of a newspaper editor – boosting circulation and profits. The Australian has abysmal readership figures, while the Tele’s circulation dropped heavily during Whittaker’s reign, and its website never appears in the top 10 Aussie news sites. So what are they good for? Scaring gullible/weak politicians seems to be it.
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“I spent almost a decade on the Australian from 2013, including the five years when Whitaker was editor.”
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Great to see The Oz has a future until at least 2023.
Is this piece being written from the future? You stated in 2013 at The Aus and were there for nearly a decade?
Oz is an ideological pamphlet, not a newspaper. A very expensive ideological pamphlet.
Will the leadership change alter any of the this?
If the Tele and the Oz still had the power they’d like us to think they have, Abbott would still be PM and Turnbull just a minister with a preferred leader rating in the low single digits. Notice how pollies that strictly tow the News Corp & 2GB line actually poll terribly and generally fail politically? The sooner they realise these Murdoch pamphlets no longer influence Australian voters, the better.
That should read ‘If Mitchell’s rule of The Australian was entertaining as a Machiavellian play, Whitaker’s time will be loud, abrasive and, if you see things from the FAR right perspective, equally as fun’.
One of the interesting this about Chris Mitchell was the way he would sometimes pick a particular individual he didn’t like and just hammer on them no mater how un-edifying it got.
His obsession with Robert Manne is the classic example. It was odd, as there are many high profile people who shared Robert Manne’s views on the Stolen Generations – but for some reason Manne got picked by Mitchell as someone he wanted to sink hours of staff time into. It just never seemed to occur to him that a using a national paper to attack a private enemy was highlighting to the public just how small-town the Oz was.
People who have actual lives didn’t care who wasn’t getting a Christmas card from Mitchell. They never seemed to realise how off putting this kind of thing was to actual readers living actual lives. Its no surpries retirees were their main readers.
If the new boss is same as the old boss but with a dash of extra tabloid….its over for the Oz very soon. Can you imagine anyone in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart or Darwin picking up a copy when Whittaker starts running grudge editorials against his enemies in Sydney and Canberra? Me neither.
I don’t care anymore. The well has been poisoned for too long. I really need more balance. I cancelled my subscription a couple of years ago. When I get a free copy at the gym it is still only a skim read. It really is a shame. I reckon they should be feeling the guilts for ruining the paper.
Good insight, Simon!
what’s the bet the Australian will now ramp up their current white ant ing of Malcolm Turnbull in a pathetic attempt to reinstall an ex PM Australians don’t ever want back. That’s the arrogance of the right wing.
Psst!
2nd par…Paul “Boris” Whitaker.
6th par….when Whitaker was editor.
Last par…as a Machiavellian play, Whitaker’s time will be loud….
Whitaker? Whittaker!
Thanks Simon. The sub editors on The Australian are among the best in the world and I relied on them heavily. Apologies to Paul.
Mumbrella will have sub editor on deck soon to keep this sloppy journalist in line.
Simon
Mumbrella
“If the Tele and the Oz still had the power they’d like us to think they have…”
Not a good example. News turned on Abbott after he shit-canned changes to the cross-media ownership laws, robbing Murdoch of his opportunity to buy Channel 10 and turn it into Fox Lite.
Go back through the stories and you’ll see a sudden shift in rhetoric, from ‘Yay, Abbott,’ to ‘Fuck this guy.’
Also right before Abbott’s dumping Murdoch flew into Canberra and held a lengthy meeting with Scott Morrison.
So maybe they do have the power they think they do, or are at least they were elbow deep in the leadership shenanigans.
Fred: The Daily Tele backed Abbott all the way to the very end. In fact, ‘backed’ is an understatement.