Sun-Herald relaunch: A big improvement

So we saw the first issue of the new Sun-Herald today. Decent all-round effort but after the first few pages you don’t often get the feeling that you’re in a ‘new’ Sunday paper, apart from a few solid reads like the one on ‘reality TV from the inside’.

– Annabel Crabb’s column: they bring back of of Australia’s BEST political sketch writers and her best effort is a piece on old TVs being junked and sitting on the street??

– Cover: Tony Abbott?? A very dark close up photos, so close you can see his nostril hairs, with TA wearing a suit? FFS, people this, is a Sunday newspaper! What about choosing for your first ‘new’ edition somebody who is more appealing instead of a generally instant turn-off? Or if you HAVE to have Abbott banging on about working mums, then why not get a nice SUnday-style shot of him – relaxed, outdoors, in a polo-top or open-nekced shirt, maybe even with the wife? That was totally the wrong photo for a Sunday cover!

– Fitz: good to see him buried down the back so I don’t have to be confronted by his self-serving self-promoting copy and that stupid red bandana!

I’d just like to note that “colour newspaper printing” is actually very reliable, providing that the files are prepared by people who know what they’re doing and the RIP is configured appropriately. It’s possible that someone fucked up, and no-one else noticed; but more likely that it was intentional or that the print site has shipped out some “spoils” to save costs.

sadly, it’s as dreary as it ever was. and what’s with those ludicrous dinkuses for richard hinds and annabel crabb? their names in about 62 pt and full length 30 cm deep pics of them. ego wars down at odi-ous?

I can’t tell if the depth (and length) of coverage in this piece indicates the most excellent piece of irony Mumbrella has ever produced? I hope so – by the fourteenth paragraph I almost felt in on the joke.

It reads like those fake Amazon reviews of obscure science textbooks:
http://www.amazon.com/Chemical.....Descending

Same clowns, same circus. The editorial is still little more than crap to space out the advertisements which are still the best part of the paper. The sheer mind boggling genius though is relaying the TV guide so it is not a self contained lift out. Give whoever is responsible for that a ticket – out of town, never to be employed in a media environment ever again.

The revamp is definitely better. The font and columns are better laid out and hopefully some aspects would be applied over to the Sydney Morning Herald because the SMH is not exactly a pretty paper. The Australian looks much better but in terms of content SMH obviously comes out on top.

A little question Tim, my page 6 and front sports cover is different to yours. Did you have a special early edition just for media journalists or maybe it’s because i’m a subscriber so I got an earlier print?

…meanwhile Sydneybrella has completely failed to mention the redesign of the Sunday Age in Melbourne, no doubt at least partly forced on it due to content sharing with the Sun-Herald.

Disappointing attempt to refresh one our oldest Sundays.

The writing still lacks attitude and edge. Long winded, boring, stories that don’t drive the news angle.

Burying the sport somewhere in the middle (haven’t found it yet) is a silly move – the easy access from the back pages was one of the most positive points of differences to the Sunday Terrible.

But it’s the quality and sharpness of the writing and story judgement that is the most disappointing.

i may want to read it…. but I don’t need to with so manyalternatives

Thanks for the in depth study of the new SMH.

As someone who has not bought a newspaper in over ten years and only picks them up at airports where they’re given away for free, it is nice to get a sense of how they feel today, like getting a view on the art of blacksmithing.

And for my kids it’s an interesting look back on a bygone era of print.

One of the few remaining sections worth reading in most papers these days are the comics (no, not the politicians, the comics section).

But even this remaining oasis of value has been reduced (again).

Then, to further enhance their “non Australian” attitude, the majority of the remaining comic content is of overseas origin.

And this, at the expense of our home grown crop of brilliant cartoonists being ignored once more.

I believe that is called “exporting Australian jobs”.

Ah MacBrain, you’ve done it again.

Have to disagree entirely with Tim Burrowes. This revamp was apparently supposed to send the paper up-market with the intent of dropping the bogan readership and picking up the long disenfranchised ABs – with the accompanying advertisers who want to reach them. The cover is madness: an unattractive photo of the man who puts off more Australian women than any other at the moment.
An interview with Jackie O – a bogan, downmarket figure of no interest whatsoever to ABs.
And the big drawcard is Annabel Crabb who is so over-exposed a backlash has already begun.
As for the rest (warning hoary old idea ahead): the main difference is a “creative use of white space” which translates to even fewer words, but they’re not really worth having anyway – weary gossip and social pages predominate. The end (in more ways than one.)

Tim, a dog turd in bright wrapping is still a dog turd. Yes, the layout looks good as a design exercise, but the content! Oh dear — more of the blinkered Fairfax fascination with trying to lock up the A&Bs. Hywood & Co. must be telling themselves over and over, “If we can only make them notice us, they’ll come back.” They really need to get out more, meet a few people who no longer buy their papers.

Example: Come the next election, the ABs will vote Liberal. This isn’t a political view; it’s reality as reflected by the current polls.

So what does Fairfax serve up but more of the same groupthink. Read Peatling and all all the other staffers who write for each other, not a public that has written their paper off. As for Crabb, why give further air to someone who is already everywhere? Hey, ABs, buy our paper to see more of the woman you see everywhere else. Hiring Crabb is the “buy IMB” syndrome. Too cowardly to find new columnists, the editors have gone with the safe bet. She won’t score them fresh sales, but neither will her addition to the roster see any execs fired.

In ancient times the Sun-Herald was Australia’s biggest seller because it was a light, breezy Sunday read full of an eclectic mix. Now, that mania to woo ABs has limited the paper’s content, its ability to maneuvre and, worst of all, its execs ability to see what they are doing wrong. The Sunday Tele should be an easy mark, but Fairfax keeps letting it off the hook.

God, the ongoing tragedy that it is Fairfax. Pretty soon we will only have Murdoch rags left.

The best Fairfax could hope for: a strike. that way they can lock out the existing staff and re-hire from scratch, starting with the editors.

Overall, I like the new design. Though, it would have been nice that the Sun-Hear;d would have added a separate sport section, while keeping the other sections intact. Today,. 1 April, the first section comes with multiple lift outs. In the Digital Edition, one goes consecutively through this section, you goes from news, to S, to Sydney Family Show to Sport, back to the rest of Sydney family Show, to S, to news and then Extra. A bit confusing, but manageable fro its 120 pages.

I will say that the stories are much more in depth and that it has more of a Sydney Morning Herald to it. Where, before, the Sun-Herald was straddling the line between a informative newspaper and a London tabloid.

By the way, last week’s article about “Escape from Camp 14”, and the subsequent book review, were certainly worthy. This, alone, indicated, that the Sun-Herald is looking for an intelligent audience, who spend their Sunday’s (in my case Saturday), with quality journalism.

The biggest loss, however is is the Comic section. No more “Yes, Man!”, “Beyond the Black Stump” or “Toranga Tales”. I live in the US, and seen a little bit of Aussie culture eliminated in the redesign. Too bad, “yes, Man” was rather funny in its wit, and was “Beyond the Black Stump”. Hopefully, some of the features will return at a future date.

All, in all, the makeover was a great step in the right direction.