It’s probably been said before, but Re, The Daily/Sunday Telegraph: Despite the infamous front pages along with often dubious and sometimes downright misleading content, there’s probably a few reasons why they’re the most popular newspapers in Sydney & NSW over their Fairfax equivalents.
*Price: At the moment, weekday editions The Daily Telegraph currently cost $1.60 while The Sydney Morning Herald is $3. Of course the prices for both newspapers are higher on weekends, but there’s no prizes for guessing which one is cheaper.
*Size: The Sydney Morning Herald published their Monday-Saturday editions in the broadsheet format (ie, with the reputation of being difficult to properly read on public transport and whatnot) up until a few years ago. Meanwhile The Daily Telegraph has long been published in the smaller tabloid format. Probably since at least the October 1990 merger, and I suspect even back in the days when The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mirror were separate entities.
*Because many people in Sydney lean towards media outlets that emphasise more on hype & sensationalism. If (generally) high quality investigative journalism and researched analysis really sold well in Sydney, I suspect that the ABC would be much more popular than it’s commercial counterparts in broadcast media along with Fairfax in the print media!
Of course that’s not to say that I think The Sydney Morning Herald/The Sun Herald isn’t without their flaws or that The Daily/Sunday Telegraph doesn’t very occasionally has a good story (a good comparison would probably be how very occasionally, you’ll see a good story on A Current Affair), but I can understand why many people like getting their news from the former while despising the latter.
They were tabloid long before the merger. The Daily Telegraph was rather staid since Murdoch bought it, with The Daily Mirror being the loud afternoon brother, iirc. In the 1970s The Sunday Mirror was a true scandal sheet with the page 3 girls showing more than the weekday girls, though it was overall a tad tamer than its at the time Victorian cousin The Truth.
Yeah, the News Corp owned The Gold Coast Bulletin are sponsoring the event yet the organising committee are not prepared to give them adequate reporting access. Fairfax Brisbane Times, also a sponsor, has the same issue so is not seeking accreditation and is boycotting.
According to Mumbrella, Manly Daily will only publish on Wednesdays and Saturdays from next month (currently it is published on Tuesdays to Saturdays). It’s a bit like Australian Women’s Weekly which comes out monthly and therefore does not fit the name.
Pity. It was always good picking up the Manly Daily on a trip to Manly, and I sometimes got it on the odd occasion from the old Parramatta Advertiser/Cumberland Newspapers office in Parramatta where all the News Ltd Sydney local papers were available.
News Corp has decided to withdraw its papers from being independently audited, and will only rely on Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (EMMA) for readership numbers. I am not sure what advantage this will bring to the company, because EMMA figures can be unreliable as they are based on surveys.
Nicole Sheffield is resigning as News Corp chief digital officer. She has worked on LifeStyle Channel and NewsLifeMedia before she was promoted to her current role in March 2017.
News Corp launched a new nationwide campaign called “We’re for You” today, with all metro and regional papers involved. For the campaign launch, the editor of each regional and metro title has written their own letter to readers, which appears on page 2 and 3 of metro titles like the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph. A new TV ad also debuted last night.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Mail Brisbane has scrapped Stellar magazine to bring back U magazine as part of the paper’s relaunch last week. Stellar will continue to be inserted into Sunday Herald Sun and The Sunday Telegraph each week.
News Corp has restructured its News Prestige Network, which now sees The Australian in the same grouping as Vogue Australia, Vogue Living and GQ. The division will be run by The Australian’s current CEO Nicholas Gray.
I don’t know of any other newspapers in the world being described a “prestige” paper. Is The Australian in the same class as The Times of London? The New York Times? The Washington Post?
SBS director of media sales Andrew Cook, who is leaving the broadcaster in March, is joining News Corp as as general manager of advertising for News Prestige Network.
I personally would’ve thought that The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times are more comparable to The New York Times and The Washington Post respectively.
