*Another reason why newspaper readership is falling is explained in this unusual 1908 postcard from the Little Darwin collection of oddities . It contains inked in advice not to read papers in the open for all that you see is not real- certainly the case today . Drawn by F. Stone , the postcard was sent from Port Pirie, South Australia , by Dick, who may have worked in the smelter, possibly the engine room, where it was “only 136F ”-141 the day before. Dick was sending some smoked mullet on the midday train to Bill Thompson , Main Street, Petersburg , later changed to Peterborough as a result of the removal of “Hunnish” WW1 names .
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The departure of John Hartigan as chairman and CEO of News Limited must heighten the feeling of insecurity in the Australian media. Insiders had been expecting "Harto," the veteran Murdoch hand,to make a career change . He says he has stepped aside for people with new ideas. His replacement , Kim Williams , the Foxtel chief,with"no ink in his blood", will probably cause unease among newspaper footsoldiers.
The golden age of newspapers is well and truly over. Staff are being made redundant in large numbers and some are jumping ship. “News” production is being centralised , homogenised, trivialised, some would say bastardised. The terms and conditions for valued contributors have been slashed, amounting to a 25 percent pay cut, with no certainty that commissioned work they turn in will be run, thus no cash longa finger after much hard work. Which media baron in a lecture spoke out about "bludgers" getting something for nothing ?
Three high flyers at Murdoch’s national, The Australian, have jumped ship and gone over to the “enemy”-the Fairfaxes , which run the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH),The Age in Melbourne and the Australian Financial Review. From time to time there is speculation about the future of the Australia, which has never made a profit , some now saying it could close after the next federal election as News Limited is clearly intent on removing the Gillard Government. Another view is that in the event of Rupert Murdoch’s death, a scalpel would be taken to the entire empire , and anything not making a buck would be given the chop. The Australian recently engaged in an experiment– a three month online pay wall. There are rosy projections that as a digital subscription production it will be a goer-reality may be contrary to what is seen in the shaky newspaper industry as wishful thinking.
In the case of the once influential Sydney Morning Herald, there is speculation that it will also switch to digital weekdays, with a Saturday hard copy run , perhaps at the end of next year. This time frame would enable the SMH to see what happens to the Australian, and hopefully pick up some of its ex- readers in the process.
A longtime reader of the SMH, a professional ,whose diverse business interests bring him to Darwin , says the bulky Saturday edition of the SMH contains about one and a half pages of actual news which he finds worth reading . Instead of reporters going out and getting the facts and actually REPORTING to the public so they could form an opinion , he said this was a thing of the past. Papers were full of op-eds, advertorials, life style drivel , which he did not want to read.
Malcolm Turnbull, about the only reasonable person in the catty, caterwauling Coalition , concurred when he told the ABC's Q &A that there is not a news cycle but an opinion cycle,with no middle, rational , objective reporting. The internet, he opined, was exacerbating the situation, not helping.
A highly respected observer of the media scene told Little Darwin the malaise afflicting Australian newspapers, radio and TV has forced some really top editors to become “f***wits,” just to keep their jobs. The ABC's Media Watch has referred to the dross served up as news .
Here in the Northern Territory, where the Murdoch press has a stranglehold on the print media through the NT News and the suburban Suns ( the latter started to stifle any possible competition), the staff is being whittled back . Recently it was announced that a batch of graphic artists were being moved on to consolidate operations in Brisbane ; this comes after an earlier reduction of seven in the sub editing area. The first lot were given the chop because the Darwin newspaper –Your Voice in the Territory -is now made up at the Adelaide Advertiser .
A joke doing the rounds in Darwin coffee shops is that editorial conferences at the NT News now take place in a telephone booth already occupied by five longgrassers . Just this week , Little Darwin followed a car bearing the News 7 numberplate, a pushbike sticking out the boot ( a Greenie ?), its trafficator continually indicating a left turn, through the CBD, along the Stuart Highway. It seemed to symbolise the confusion and uncertain direction in the Australian media in general .
*********************************************************
The departure of John Hartigan as chairman and CEO of News Limited must heighten the feeling of insecurity in the Australian media. Insiders had been expecting "Harto," the veteran Murdoch hand,to make a career change . He says he has stepped aside for people with new ideas. His replacement , Kim Williams , the Foxtel chief,with"no ink in his blood", will probably cause unease among newspaper footsoldiers.
The golden age of newspapers is well and truly over. Staff are being made redundant in large numbers and some are jumping ship. “News” production is being centralised , homogenised, trivialised, some would say bastardised. The terms and conditions for valued contributors have been slashed, amounting to a 25 percent pay cut, with no certainty that commissioned work they turn in will be run, thus no cash longa finger after much hard work. Which media baron in a lecture spoke out about "bludgers" getting something for nothing ?
Three high flyers at Murdoch’s national, The Australian, have jumped ship and gone over to the “enemy”-the Fairfaxes , which run the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH),The Age in Melbourne and the Australian Financial Review. From time to time there is speculation about the future of the Australia, which has never made a profit , some now saying it could close after the next federal election as News Limited is clearly intent on removing the Gillard Government. Another view is that in the event of Rupert Murdoch’s death, a scalpel would be taken to the entire empire , and anything not making a buck would be given the chop. The Australian recently engaged in an experiment– a three month online pay wall. There are rosy projections that as a digital subscription production it will be a goer-reality may be contrary to what is seen in the shaky newspaper industry as wishful thinking.
In the case of the once influential Sydney Morning Herald, there is speculation that it will also switch to digital weekdays, with a Saturday hard copy run , perhaps at the end of next year. This time frame would enable the SMH to see what happens to the Australian, and hopefully pick up some of its ex- readers in the process.
A longtime reader of the SMH, a professional ,whose diverse business interests bring him to Darwin , says the bulky Saturday edition of the SMH contains about one and a half pages of actual news which he finds worth reading . Instead of reporters going out and getting the facts and actually REPORTING to the public so they could form an opinion , he said this was a thing of the past. Papers were full of op-eds, advertorials, life style drivel , which he did not want to read.
Malcolm Turnbull, about the only reasonable person in the catty, caterwauling Coalition , concurred when he told the ABC's Q &A that there is not a news cycle but an opinion cycle,with no middle, rational , objective reporting. The internet, he opined, was exacerbating the situation, not helping.
A highly respected observer of the media scene told Little Darwin the malaise afflicting Australian newspapers, radio and TV has forced some really top editors to become “f***wits,” just to keep their jobs. The ABC's Media Watch has referred to the dross served up as news .
Here in the Northern Territory, where the Murdoch press has a stranglehold on the print media through the NT News and the suburban Suns ( the latter started to stifle any possible competition), the staff is being whittled back . Recently it was announced that a batch of graphic artists were being moved on to consolidate operations in Brisbane ; this comes after an earlier reduction of seven in the sub editing area. The first lot were given the chop because the Darwin newspaper –Your Voice in the Territory -is now made up at the Adelaide Advertiser .
A joke doing the rounds in Darwin coffee shops is that editorial conferences at the NT News now take place in a telephone booth already occupied by five longgrassers . Just this week , Little Darwin followed a car bearing the News 7 numberplate, a pushbike sticking out the boot ( a Greenie ?), its trafficator continually indicating a left turn, through the CBD, along the Stuart Highway. It seemed to symbolise the confusion and uncertain direction in the Australian media in general .
