Comments on: Whispers at Fairfax: restructure is nigh http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/13/whispers-at-fairfax-restructure-is-nigh/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:14:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: David Sanderson http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/13/whispers-at-fairfax-restructure-is-nigh/#comment-25015 David Sanderson Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-25015 The decline of the SMH is very sad to see. While cost-cutting is understandable if the profits are not there it also obviously adds to the vortex of decline. For older people who are not regular users of the internet it means that one of their principal means of accessing ideas and debates is not what it once was. My grandmother relied on the SMH heavily in that way and she would be disappointed by the current product.<br /><br /> The decline of the SMH is very sad to see. While cost-cutting is understandable if the profits are not there it also obviously adds to the vortex of decline. For older people who are not regular users of the internet it means that one of their principal means of accessing ideas and debates is not what it once was. My grandmother relied on the SMH heavily in that way and she would be disappointed by the current product.

]]> By: Brisbane Line http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/13/whispers-at-fairfax-restructure-is-nigh/#comment-25016 Brisbane Line Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-25016 City of Literature! Oh, do give yourself a break andc go somewhere interesting. Adelaide, perhaps? City of Literature! Oh, do give yourself a break andc go somewhere interesting. Adelaide, perhaps?

]]> By: M.James http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/02/13/whispers-at-fairfax-restructure-is-nigh/#comment-25017 M.James Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-25017 The decline of the SMH is not just sad but calamitous for Brisbanites desperate for some sensible media in this one newspaper town. And just as the widespread availability of these newspapers is happening.<br />On the other hand it has long seemed inevitable that Fairfax should amalgamate everything, not just the Business Day section. My own preferred model is to eventually abolish city editions (The Age, SMH and the laughable Brisbane Times online) and create a single quality national newspaper. Perhaps it could begin slowly by having an outer or inner sleeve for the Age/SMH/BrizTimes with the bulk of the paper being national. Impossible you say, but wake up, the world and the audience has globalized. The big stories about the states are usually just as relevant to the others and in any case the small-town local stuff is being purloined by the freesheets (including News’ MX here; weirdly showing up just how awful the CM is by often having more news!...not that I admit in public that I read it…). Then they could focus on the national market and make a dominant website (unlike its current awful site) which is the only place a stead future income can be had..<br />A few days ago there was an interesting OpEd (M. Kingsley) in the NYT discussing how newspapers can survive: <br /> “With even half a dozen papers, the American newspaper industry will be more competitive than it was when there were hundreds. Competition will keep the Baghdad bureaus open and the investigative units stoked with dudgeon. Competition is growing as well among Web sites that think there is money to be made performing the local paper’s local functions. One or two of these will turn out to be right. And then, who will pay even a nickel for the hometown rag?”<br /><br />Given the size of the Australian market this is surely even more valid. Of course this would require a management with a vision of the future rather than simply the next years bonus.<br /> The decline of the SMH is not just sad but calamitous for Brisbanites desperate for some sensible media in this one newspaper town. And just as the widespread availability of these newspapers is happening.
On the other hand it has long seemed inevitable that Fairfax should amalgamate everything, not just the Business Day section. My own preferred model is to eventually abolish city editions (The Age, SMH and the laughable Brisbane Times online) and create a single quality national newspaper. Perhaps it could begin slowly by having an outer or inner sleeve for the Age/SMH/BrizTimes with the bulk of the paper being national. Impossible you say, but wake up, the world and the audience has globalized. The big stories about the states are usually just as relevant to the others and in any case the small-town local stuff is being purloined by the freesheets (including News’ MX here; weirdly showing up just how awful the CM is by often having more news!…not that I admit in public that I read it…). Then they could focus on the national market and make a dominant website (unlike its current awful site) which is the only place a stead future income can be had..
A few days ago there was an interesting OpEd (M. Kingsley) in the NYT discussing how newspapers can survive:
“With even half a dozen papers, the American newspaper industry will be more competitive than it was when there were hundreds. Competition will keep the Baghdad bureaus open and the investigative units stoked with dudgeon. Competition is growing as well among Web sites that think there is money to be made performing the local paper’s local functions. One or two of these will turn out to be right. And then, who will pay even a nickel for the hometown rag?”

Given the size of the Australian market this is surely even more valid. Of course this would require a management with a vision of the future rather than simply the next years bonus.

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