Newspaper review: Forget Hanson and dogfood, it’s about News Ltd and Fairfax
While The Oz’s Media section celebrates its tenth anniversary today, one of the biggest issues it faces is well showcased.
Despite doing its best to play a straight bat, the paper can’t get away from its heritage. The Australian newspaper industry is effectively a two horse race, between News Ltd and Fairfax.
And The Oz leverages its News Ltd connections to gain an interview with former boss Lachlan Murdoch. In the interview he exclusively tells the paper that he hasn’t read the Michael Wolff book about his father Rupert; he exclusively reveals that he doesn’t want to discuss his departure from News and exclusively declines to comment on whether he’d ever return. However, he does drop some hints that his investment vehicle Illyria is ready to get into media.
The News Ltd vs Fairfax issue emerges in The Diary too, with about half of it given over to coverage of Melbourne’s Quill Awards for journalism. The Australian is name checked five times, The Age once. It was clearly an excellent night for News Ltd.
Meanwhile, one of the most embarrassing episodes of News Ltd journalism – the Sunday Telegraph’s hoax Pauline Hanson photographs – receives less than forensic attention from The Oz, with a straight-down-the line report on the affair.
By contrast, today’s Sydney Morning Herald goes to town on the debacle, reporting, as Mumbrella did yesterday, that the Tele’s case finally collapsed so late its apology didn’t even make the first edition. According to the SMH, there will be further revelations on tonight’s Media Watch on the ABC.
The News-Fairfax rivalries work both ways though. The diary column of today’s SMH reports, rather gleefully that News Magazines’ flagship food title Donna Hay has had to “stretch the boundaries of good taste” and accept petfood advertising.
But the saddest story of the day for News Ltd journos comes in The Tele today, which reports that its local, The Evening Star, has closed. it accompanies the sad day with three photos, which must be nice for the no doubt very few readers who weren’t regulars in the pub.
Still, the tidings are better for newspapers in the Australian Financial Review, where Neil Shoebridge reports that big retailers are switching their distribution from troubled printer PMP to papers.
Away from the newspaper world, The Oz reports how the advertising world could have faced disaster last week if the government had given way to demands from Family First senator Steve Fielding to ban booze ads during televised sport. In the piece, Mark Champion, boss of the Advertising Federation of Australia accepts:
“I don’t think the industry associations are serving the industry.”
Over in the SMH, comes the rarest of things in this climate, a new launch. The paper reports how property developer Murray Schwartz is launching a real estate website, Millionplus.com.au.
And in the Fin, Nine boss David Gyngell tells the paper” I don’t want to bag Seven”. This followed his previous sentence which offered a verdict on Seven’s current affairs show Sunday Night:
“I’m surprised how bad Sunday Night is. The quality of the people behind it is not reflected in the program. Its numbers and the program itself are bad.”
The same article also sees Fusion Strategy MD Steve Allen highlight Ten’s woes, including big audience declines for The Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance.
Troubled marketing group CommQuest is up against it, says the AFR. Company founder William Scott tells the paper: “I’m confident it will continue. Well, as confident as you can be in this environment.”
The paper also has news from another holding group, reporting that one of the gem’s in last week’s STWannual report was that CEO Mike Connaghan’s base salary has risen from $587,092 to $636,563, plus bonus and super. Second highest paid was creative director Neil Lawrence, who took home a total of $688,571.
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