The front page of The Sydney
Morning Herald
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Type
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Daily newspaper
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Format
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Owner(s)
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Founder(s)
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Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes
and William McGarvie
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Editor-in-chief
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Founded
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18 April 1831
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Language
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English
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Headquarters
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1 Darling Island Road, Pyrmont NSW
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Sister
newspapers
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The
Sun-Herald (Sunday edition)
The Age (Melbourne) |
OCLC number
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Website
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The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily compact newspaper published by Fairfax
Media in Sydney
and is also an Australian national online news
brand. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest
continuously published newspaper in Australia.[2]
The newspaper is published six days a week. It is available at outlets in
Sydney, regional New South Wales, Canberra, and South East Queensland (Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast).
Contents
- 1 Overview
- 2 History
- 3 Political viewpoint
- 4 Notable contributors
- 5 Ownership
- 6 Content
- 7 Digitisation
- 8 See also
- 9 References
- 10 Further reading
- 11 External links
Overview
The
Sydney Morning Herald includes a variety of supplements, including the
magazines Good Weekend (which is included in the Saturday edition of The
Sydney Morning Herald); and the(sydney)magazine. There are a variety
of lift-outs, some of them co-branded with Fairfax Media's online classified
advertising sites:
- The Guide (television) on Monday
- Good Living (food) and Domain (real estate) on Tuesday
- Money (personal finance) on Wednesday
- Drive (motor), Metro (entertainment) on Friday
- News Review, Spectrum (arts and entertainment guide), Domain (real estate), Drive (motoring) and MyCareer (employment) on Saturday
According
to Roy Morgan Research Readship Surveys, in the
twelve months to March 2011, the paper was read 766,000 times on Monday to
Friday, and read 1,014,000 times on Saturdays.[3]
The Audit Bureau of Circulations audit on
newspaper circulation states that in December 2013 an average of 132,000 copies
were sold, Monday to Friday, and 228,000 copies on Saturday, both having
declined 16% in 12 months.[1]
The
editor is Darren Goodsir. Former editors include William
Curnow,[4]
Andrew
Garran, Sean Aylmer, Frederick William Ward, Charles Brunsdon Fletcher, Colin Bingham,
Max Prisk, John Alexander, Paul McGeough, Alan Revell, Alan Oakley
and Peter Fray.[citation needed]
History
The cover of the newspaper's first
edition, on 18 April 1831
Three
employees of the now-defunct Sydney
Gazette, Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes
and William McGarvie, founded The Sydney Herald
in 1831. The four-page weekly had a print run of 750. In 1840, the newspaper
began to publish daily. In 1841, an Englishman named John Fairfax
purchased the operation, renaming it The Sydney Morning Herald the
following year. Fairfax, whose family were to control the newspaper for almost
150 years, based his editorial policies "upon principles of candour,
honesty and honour. We have no wish to mislead; no interest to gratify by
unsparing abuse or indiscriminate approbation."
During
the decade 1890, Donald Murray worked there.
The
SMH was late to the trend of printing news rather than just advertising
on the front page, doing so from 15 April 1944. Of the country's metropolitan
dailies, only The West Australian was later in making the
switch. In 1949, the newspaper launched a Sunday edition, The Sunday Herald.
Four years later, this was merged with the newly acquired Sun newspaper
to create The Sun-Herald, which continues to this day.
In
1995, the company launched smh.com.au, the
newspaper's web edition. The site has since grown to include interactive and
multimedia features beyond the content in the print edition. Around the same
time, the organisation moved from Jones Street to new offices at Darling Park and built a new
printing press at Chullora, in the city's west. The SMH has
since moved with other Sydney Fairfax divisions to a building at Darling
Island.
In
May 2007, Fairfax Media announced it would be moving from a broadsheet
format to the smaller compact or tabloid-size, in the footsteps of The Times,
for both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.[5]
Fairfax Media dumped these plans later in the year. However, in June 2012,
Fairfax Media again announced it planned to shift both broadsheet newspapers to
tabloid size, in March 2013.[6]
Fairfax also announced it would cut staff across the entire group by 1,900 over
three years and erect paywalls around the papers' websites.[7]
The subscription type is to be a freemium model, limiting readers to a number of free stories
per month, with a payment required for further access.[8]
The announcement was part of an overall "digital first" strategy of
increasingly digital or on-line content
over printed delivery, to "increase sharing of editorial content",
and to assist the managements wish for "full integration of its online,
print and mobile platforms".[7]
In
July 2013 it was announced that the SMH's news director, Darren Goodsir, will
become Editor-in-Chief, replacing Sean Aylmer.[9]
On
22 February 2014, the final Saturday edition was produced in broadsheet format
with this too converted to compact format on 1 March 2014.[10]
ahead of the decommissioning of the printing plant at Chullora in June 2014.[11]
Political viewpoint
Historically,
the SMH had been a conservative newspaper. It did not endorse the Australian Labor Party at any election until
1984 or at a state election until
2003.
During
the 2004 Australian federal election
the Herald announced it would "no longer endorse one party or
another at election time". The newspaper said the policy might yet be
revised: "A truly awful government of any colour, for example, would bring
reappraisal."[12]
The Herald subsequently endorsed the conservative Coalition at the 2007 NSW State election,[13]
but endorsed Labor at the 2007 and 2010 Federal elections,[14]
before endorsing the Coalition again at the 2013 Federal elections: "The
Herald believes only the Coalition can achieve [a stable government that
can be trusted to deliver what it promises]".[15]
The
newspaper has in recent years attempted to spearhead political campaigns,
including the "Campaign for Sydney" (planning and transport) and
"Earth
Hour" (environment).[citation needed]
Notable contributors
- Anne Davies
- Peter FitzSimons
- Ross Gittins
- Peter Hartcher
- Adele Horin
- H. G. Kippax
- Roy Masters
- Paul Sheehan
- Mike Carlton
Ownership
Main article: Fairfax
Media
Fairfax
went public in 1957 and grew to acquire interests in magazines, radio and
television. The group collapsed spectacularly on 11 December 1990 when Warwick
Fairfax, great-great-grandson of John Fairfax, attempted to privatise the
group by borrowing $1.8 billion. The group was bought by Conrad
Black before being re-listed in 1992. In 2006, Fairfax announced a merger
with Rural
Press, which brought a Fairfax family member, John B. Fairfax, in as a
significant player in the company.[16]
Content
Column 8
Column
8 is a short column to which Herald readers send
their observations of interesting happenings. It was first published on 11
January 1947.[17]
The name comes from the fact that it originally occupied the final (8th) column
of the broadsheet
newspaper's front page. In a front-page redesign in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, Column 8 moved
to the back page of the first section from 31 July 2000.[18]
The
content tends to the quirky, typically involving strange urban occurrences,
instances of confusing signs (often in Engrish), word play,
and discussion of more or less esoteric topics.[19]
The
column is also sometimes affectionately known as Granny, after a
fictional grandmother who supposedly edited it. The old Granny logo was used
for the first 20 years of the column and is occasionally resurrected for a special
retrospective.[17]
The logo was a caricature of Sydney
Deamer, originator of the column and its author for 14 years.[18][20]
It
was edited for 15 years by George Richards, who retired on 31 January 2004.[17][21]
Other editors besides Deamer and Richards have been Duncan Thompson, Bill
Fitter, Col Allison, Jim Cunningham, and briefly, Peter Bowers and Lenore
Nicklin.[21]
The column is currently edited by Pat Sheil.[22]
Opinion
The
Opinion section is a regular of the daily newspaper, containing opinion
on a wide range of issues. Mostly concerned with relevant political, legal and
cultural issues, the section presents work by regular columnists, including Herald
political columnist Phillip Coorey, Paul Sheehan and Richard Ackland, as well
occasional reader-submitted content. Iconoclastic Sydney barrister Charles C.
Waterstreet, upon whose life workplace comedy Rake is loosely
based, also has a regular humour column in this section.
Good Weekend
Good
Weekend is a liftout magazine that is
distributed with both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on
Saturdays.
It
contains, on average, four feature articles written by its stable of writers
and syndicated from overseas as well as sections on food, wine and fashion.
Writers
include Janet Hawley, Amanda Hooton and Greg Bearup.
Other
sections include "Modern Guru", which features humorous columnists
including Danny
Katz responding to the everyday dilemmas of readers; a Samurai
Sudoku; and "The Two Of Us", containing interviews with a
pair of close friends, relatives or colleagues.
Good
Weekend is edited by Ben Naparstek. Previous editors include Judith Whelan and
Fenella Souter.
Digitisation
The
paper has been partially digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers
Digitisation Program (ANDP) project of the National Library of Australia.[23][24][25]
See also
- Earth Hour
- Journalism in Australia
- List of newspapers in Australia
- The Sydney Mail - weekly magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald, published from 1860 to 1938
References
1.
· "ABC
Circulation Results-Feb 2014". Audit Bureau of Circulations. February
2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
· · Lagan, Bernard. "Breaking:
News and hearts at the Herald". Global Mail. Digital Global
Mail Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
· · "Roy Morgan
Readership estimates for Australia for the 12 months to March 2011". Roy Morgan Research. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 5
July 2011.
· · John Langdon Bonython, Address of the
President, Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, Volume XXIV, Parts 1
and 2, 1933-34, p8.
· · Tabakoff, Nick (3
May 2007). "'Smage'
journos must adapt". The Australian. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
· · Souter, Gavin (1
March 2013). "History
makes way for compact future". The Sydney Morning Herald.
Retrieved 1 March 2013.
· · Zappone, Chris (18
June 2012). "Fairfax
to shed 1900 staff, erect paywalls". Sydney Morning Herald.
Retrieved 18 June 2012.
· · Simpson, Kirsty (18
June 2012). "Fairfax
moves to 'freemium' model". The Sydney Morning Herald.
Retrieved 18 June 2012.
· · Homewood, Sarah (28
January 2014). "Fairfax
to complete transition to compact". The Newspaper Works. Retrieved 25
February 2014.
· · "Full
stop for Chullora print plant after 19 years". The Sydney Morning
Herald. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
· · "Editorial:
It's time for a vote of greater independence". The Sydney Morning
Herald. 7 October 2004.
· · "Editorial:
Why NSW cannot afford four more years of Labor". The Sydney Morning
Herald. 22 March 2007.
· · "Editorial:
Australians deserve a government they can trust". The Sydney
Morning Herald. 6 September 2013.
· · "26.19
Granny George calls it a day" (pdf (20 pages)). Australian
Newspaper History Group Newsletter (University of Queensland's School of
Journalism & Communication) (26): 5. February 2004. Archived from the original
on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
· · "8.37
Changes in the Herald: Who will make me smile before breakfast?"
(pdf (19 pages)). Australian Newspaper History Group Newsletter
(University of Queensland’s School of Journalism & Communication) (8):
17–18. August 2000. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
· · "41.26
Has the world gone mad? Column 8 at 60" (pdf (20 pages)). Australian
Newspaper History Group Newsletter (University of Queensland's School of
Journalism & Communication) (41): 8. February 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
· · Souter, Gavin
(1983). "Deamer,
Sydney Harold (1891–1962)". Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
· · Ramsey,
Alan (4 February 2004). "George
has moved on but his Granny still lives". Sydney Morning Herald.
Retrieved 2008-01-15.
· · "32.31
Column 8 Changes Style" (pdf (20 pages)). Australian Newspaper
History Group Newsletter (University of Queensland’s School of Journalism
& Communication) (32). May 2005. Archived from the
original on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-15. The Column 8 has a new
editor, Pat Sheil, and he is changing the style of the 58-year-old Sydney
Morning Herald column. "I am trying to make it a bit edgier than it
was", he told MediaWeek (11 April 2005, p.6). "Basically, Column
8 should be like a chat, without making it too trite or stupid." George
Richards edited Column 8 for fifteen and a half years before retiring early
last year (see ANHG 26.19). James Cockington edited it until handing over to
Sheil in February this year.
· · "Newspaper and magazine
titles". Trove Digitised newspapers and more. National Library
of Australia. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
25.
· Brown, Jerelynn
(2011). "Tabloids in the State Library of NSW collection: A reflection of
life in Australia". Australian Journal of Communication 38
(2): 107–121.
Further reading
- Gavin Souter (1981) Company of Heralds: a century and a half of Australian publishing by John Fairfax Limited and its predecessors, 1831-1981 Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, ISBN 0522842186
- Gavin Souter (1992) Heralds and angels: the house of Fairfax 1841-1992 Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books, ISBN 0140173307
