Today marks 30 years since the Herald Sun was first published in Melbourne. The tabloid-size paper was born from the merger of The Sun News-Pictorial and The Herald. The new paper sold 860,000 copies on its first day (Monday, October 8, 1990) and has dominated the Victorian media scene ever since.
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Same day in Sydney, The Daily Telegraph merged with its afternoon sister newspaper The Daily Mirror to become The Daily Telegraph-Mirror. Canât celebrate that anniversary as the name reverted to The Daily Telegraph in January 1996.
I remember being shocked on that day to see a lot of the features from both newspapers appearing in the new publication- things like the comics, stars and puzzle pages were doubled up on. I imagine the publisher still had contracts for such content they needed to honour. Purchased both the morning and afternoon editions on that day and apart from the first pages, there was very little new content in the afternoon edition.
I was disappointed to see the end of The Daily Mirror as it was a fixture in our home throughout my childhood. I enjoyed waiting outside Shellharbour Newsagency in the summer with the old timers from the pub and old Workers Club for the afternoon delivery. Everyone jostling to grab their copy to see the latest news headlines as the tape was cut from the bundles.
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I always would read The Herald which my dad would bring home from work. Then when I started working I would buy it to read on the train home but the broadsheet size was a pest in a crowded train! Pity that they didnât make it a tabloid size, although they did with the Saturday edition shortly before they axed that.
The Gold TV Guide on Mondays was a good alternative to The Age Green Guide but it got lost in the merger with The Sun, as The Sunâs weekly TV guide took precedence.
I have a copy of the last editions of The Herald and The Sun, and I bought the afternoon edition of the Herald Sun on the first day. I still have it somewhere. But as you also found, apart from the first few pages the whole paper was just a reprint of the morning edition. So I didnât keep buying the afternoon paper. I thought it was a bit pointless to buy the price of a whole new newspaper just to get a few pages of updated news.
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A raft of high-profile Victorians â including foodie Matt Preston, musician Kate Ceberano, marathon legend Steve Moneghetti, AFL greats Kevin Sheedy and Shane Crawford and community campaigner Ann Peacock â have penned letters which are published in a special 12-page wrap of Thursdayâs Herald Sun and have been brought to life on billboards located on six iconic Melbourne street corners.
âMelbourne Square Dominationâ â Cnr Flinders & Elizabeth Streets
âThe Puntâ â Punt Road Bridge at Richmond Station
âThe Flindersâ â 238 Flinders Street
âThe Victoriaâ â 1 Hoddle Street
âThe Comoâ â Cnr Chapel St & Toorak Rd
âYarra Promenadeâ â 8 Market Street
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I can probably understand why the decision was made to drop the âMirrorâ part of the name on 2/1/1996 though.
Unlike the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph Mirror didnât really roll off the tongue well as a brand (particularly in TV/radio advertising) and Iâd imagine that most readers still wouldâve referred to the merged paper as âThe Teleâ anyway.
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I heard someone not that long ago still refer to âThe Sunâ. It hasnât been that for 30 years now
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Iâd be interested to know if the Herald Sun was substantially different to the newspapers it replaced. Obviously it was different to broadsheet The Herald but did it resemble The Sun in structure and tone? Did the revamp more closely resemble the sister publication in Sydney and become more tabloid?
I vaguely recall buying the Hun while in Melbourne in the late '90s and liking the structure and tone a little more than the Sydney paper I was accustomed to. The Wednesday TV lift out was far superior and the columnists didnât feel as strident as their Sydney counterparts. More diversity in the opinions pages, too.
Last time I saw a copy of The Herald Sun (several years ago) there wasnât much to distinguish it from The Tele. I think they share some columnists now and have the same syndication deals for some content.
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From memory a lot of the features in the Herald carried over. I used to search for Jeff Hookâs hook every morning in his editorial cartoon but he was replaced by Mark Knight from the Herald as his many columns and writers. Terry McCrann when he had an opinion worth reading was originally in the Herald. The Sun News-Pictorial was more tabloid in style than the merged masthead. I also missed the Gold Guide which I read after school.
Interestingly, HWT kept the Sunday editions as separate mastheads into 1991, although the Sunday-Herald was a morning paper.
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The Daily Telegraph today is more like the old The Daily Mirror, imo, flashy and sensational. The old The Daily Telegraph was somewhat more subdued, iirc.
Once upon a time I used to buy all six Sydney newspapers - the SMH, Sun, Telegraph, Mirror, Australian and AFR on some days, the Sun-Herald and Telegraph on Sundays and occasionally the trashy Sunday Mirror, and the weekly National Times. The Sunday edition of The Australian didnât last very long and I actually donât recall buying it.
I actually bought The Australian today as I wanted the Australia Institute paid wrap-around on the Canberra edition, but I canât remember the last time before today that I purchased a newspaper.
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Iâd agree with that. I remember The Daily Mirror being very sensationalist and cheeky. Lots of big photos and screaming headlines. There was the page three girl, also. Theyâd toned it down towards the end, however.
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That was my recollection too although obviously with the tabloid format it resembled more The Sun with some Herald elements thrown in.
Although it inherited The Sunâs tendency for loud front page headlines it was fairly mild compared to the sort of heavily biased and sensationalist, almost comical, coverage it does now.
As mentioned, the Gold Guide was gone with the Herald Sun inheriting The Sunâs weekly Guide, which wasnât bad in itself.
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A shame they didnât merge the titles and call it The Daily Te-rror.
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Good. Itâs about time someone did something about that crap.
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In his first major public comments since then, he told The New York Times on Saturday (EDT) that he felt he could be more effective doing work outside the family company.
âI reached the conclusion that you can venerate a contest of ideas, if you will, and we all do and thatâs important," Mr Murdoch, the younger son of Rupert Murdoch, said in the interview. "But it shouldnât be in a way that hides agendas. A contest of ideas shouldnât be used to legitimise disinformation. And I think itâs often taken advantage of. And I think at great news organisations, the mission really should be to introduce fact to disperse doubt â not to sow doubt, to obscure fact, if you will.
Mr Murdoch and his wife Kathryn Hufschmid, who has worked for the Clinton Climate Initiative, have previously spoken publicly about their concerns with News Corpâs direction. In September last year Mr Murdoch told The New Yorker he strongly disagreed with many of conservative television network Fox Newsâ views and admitted that there were times where he and his father did not talk. Fox News is majority owned by News Corp.
When News Corpâs local news arm, which also publishes The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun , was criticised globally for its coverage of the Australian bushfire crisis in January, Mr Murdoch accused the global media empire of promoting climate denialism.
âThereâs only so much you can do if youâre not an executive, youâre on the board, youâre quite removed from a lot of the day-to-day decisions,â Mr Murdoch told The New York Times . âAnd if youâre uncomfortable with those decisions, you have to take stock of whether or not you want to be associated and can you change it or not. I decided that I could be much more effective outside.â
Mr Murdoch also admitted he had never watched Succession , a fictional HBO show that many consider to be inspired by his family.
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Mark Knightâs AFL premiership poster will be sold in Brisbane, with the winning teamâs poster available for $3 each (cash only) from The Courier-Mailâs offices at Bowen Hills from midday on Monday. All proceeds will go to the Royal Childrenâs Hospital Good Friday Appeal.
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