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.
“But no more navel-gazing for now. We’ll be getting you home with a smile on your face for the next nine working days.”
mX was established in 2001 in Melbourne, with News Corp opening a Sydney edition in 2005 and Brisbane in 2007.
However, in recent years the circulations for all three titles have fallen by around 20 per cent.
The last audit showed 34,313 copies were handed out on average each weekday in Brisbane, compared to 42,831 in the March 2012 audit, a drop of 19.8 per cent.
For Sydney circulation dropped from 99,059 in March 2012 to 77,831 this year – a 21 per cent decline – and in Melbourne the drop went from 84,699 in March 2012 to 69,148, 18.3 per cent.
Miranda Ward
Front-page editorial in full:
“Kim Jong Un has got a lot of things wrong since becoming Supreme Leader of North Korea – he can now add failed media analyst to the list.
“His Pyongyang KCNA news agency mouthpiece, getting mX’s title wrong, predicted “Brisbane Metro will remain as a symbol of rogue paper” after we published a certain cheeky medal tally during the 2012 London Olympics.
Well, Kim and his team got that wrong, mX will be closing down after 14 years at the top of our game, entertaining, informing and engaging with all of you on your daily commute home after a full working day.
We’ve still got plenty in store over the next couple of weeks and you won’t want to miss a copy leading up to our sure-fire collectors’ item final edition.
The first mX rolled off the press in Melbourne on February 5, 2001 – followed by Sydney on July 4, 2005 and Brisbane on March 5, 2007 – with the core focus of taking readers’ minds off their busy day. That’s been our passion and commitment to you ever since, but the rapid growth and distraction of mobile devices has applied too much pressure for us to continue.
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.
But no more navel-gazing for now. We’ll be getting you home with a smile on your face for the next nine working days.
Thanks for picking us up and for all the genuine messages of support flooding in from our amazing readers.
Kind regards,
Craig Herbert, mX editor-in-chief
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“off their busy day” rather than “of”, methinks 🙂
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Really I’m not too disappointed about this. Mx put me offside very quickly with their pushy vendors and generically crass, occasionally bigoted, content
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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.
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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.
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Trying to re-engineer the daily news of the Internet back into print was always a doomed proposition.
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Hi Craig,
Thanks for flagging. Now corrected.
Cheers
Nic – Mumbrella
Trying to flog ice post invention of the fridge was kinda brave, and definitely stupid.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.
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Sad for the hard working staff, but this is a win for trees.
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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.
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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.
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