mX editor-in-chief Craig Herbert says staff ‘gutted’ by closure of commuter newspaper
Commuter newspaper mX editor-in-chief Craig Herbert has said staff are “gutted” by the decision to close the struggling commuter paper, in a front-page editorial which also thanked readers for their support.
News Corp confirmed yesterday that the newspaper’s last edition will be on June 12.
The publisher’s CEO Julian Clarke blamed the closure on the shift to mobile of its young commuter audience, which he said made the “decision inevitable”.
“It’s been a fun and frenetic journey for all who have had the privilege to work on mX over the years, and every single member of the mX family is gutted by the decision to pull down the curtain,” wrote Herbert, in his editorial thanking readers.
“off their busy day” rather than “of”, methinks 🙂
Really I’m not too disappointed about this. Mx put me offside very quickly with their pushy vendors and generically crass, occasionally bigoted, content
Thanks Angus – I’ve fixed that typo up.
Cheers,
Miranda – Mumbrella
It was folly to start a new newspaper after the Net and Smartphones became so firmly entrenched. A bit like The Age establishing a new, multimillion dollar printing plant at the same time when print circulation was already in decine for those same reasons.
If you’re going to transcribe my message into your you-bewt digital platform, at least fix up the many mistakes you typed in that were not there when I wrote it for the printed version. Thanks, Craig Herbert.
Hi Craig,
Thanks for flagging. Now corrected.
Cheers
Nic – Mumbrella
Trying to re-engineer the daily news of the Internet back into print was always a doomed proposition.
Trying to flog ice post invention of the fridge was kinda brave, and definitely stupid.
I think you guys are thinking too negative in your comments. MX has a readership base established. Bit of a shame not to leverage that. Albeit in a digital form. This also possibly allows retraining of some existing staff. But it means thinking outside the box.
“It was folly to start a new newspaper after the Net and Smartphones became so firmly entrenched.” – The Magnus
Ah… it didn’t do anything of the story actually. In 2001 when mX was launched in Melbourne, online news was very much an emerging area. Few journalists filed for web and most outlets had a token at best staff focusing on digital output. In 2005 when mX was launched in Sydney, few big players were taking online news too seriously, to say the least. In 2007 when it came to Brisbane, Fairfax launched an online only news product, Brisbane Times, a few months later – a move that was heavily criticised as being a waste of time and money.
And the iPhone, which arguably began the smartphone era, was only announced in January 2007 and released in Australia at the end of that year.
Facts, The Magnus – use them.
The only problem MX had was content. Too much of what was in it was old and all ready published electronically. It is not surprising it has closed, but it is surprising it lasted as long as it did.
It’s a shame that this publication has to go. There are still many areas where reception is poor, making it difficult for mobile devices to access online content. This is especially prevalent in the tunnels such as those on the Airport line. It’s because of this that I would turn to mX for my daily fix of puzzles and headline puns. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
Sad for the hard working staff, but this is a win for trees.
I’ve always been fond of mX. It was one of the very first brands we pitched, won and launched after starting our independent agency SMART in 2000. And the “Pick Me Up” campaign that won us the business was one of the earliest I wrote as ECD of the agency and went on to be an enduring tagline for more than a decade.
mX’s launch was a big deal at the time. And for a time it attracted a slew of first rate advertisers and enthusiastic readers alike. It was a smart and aggressive play by News and a brand we were very proud to be associated with.
Sorry to see it go.
I never did appreciate MX distributers flapping the paper in my face and obstructing the stairs and escalators at Central. However, I’m always a little sad to see a paper close down. Best of luck to all their staff for the future.