Media Watch sent to ACMA. Haven’t they had a Barry?

• SHARRI MARKSON • • FEBRUARY 24, 2014 12:00AM

AUSTRALIA’S most experienced editor plans to lodge a complaint with the communications watchdog about the ABC’s Media Watch program’s failure to meet editorial guidelines. The Australian editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell has also denied claims by Media Watch host Paul Barry over the national broadsheet’s financial position. Mitchell, the nation’s longest-serving editor, has revealed The Australian’s digital advertising revenue is increasing by double digits, newspaper advertising revenue is up and national readership is growing beyond 3.1 million a month. The Australian, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, was not a “loss-making hole in the ocean”, Mitchell said, which was how media rivals, particularly the ABC, liked to portray it. Mitchell said he would complain to the Australian Communications and Media Authority over the ABC’s failure to seek comment from News Corp Australia before going to air with false claims that the paper was losing up to $50 million a year, after the national broadcaster refused to correct the record. “The Australian should not have to draw the program’s attention to the ABC’s code of conduct and editorial policies,” The Australian’s letter to the ABC says. “The program has demonstrably failed to apply the same ‘recognised standards of objective journalism’ to which it is bound by statute and which it expects of the media each week.” In an embarrassing breach of ABC editorial policy, Barry admitted to business media writer Darren Davidson that he did not contact The Australian for comment, despite seeking clarification from Fairfax, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail for his report on the profitability of newspapers. When asked why he had failed to seek comment from The Australian, Barry said he did not think it was likely the editor-in-chief would respond so he “didn’t bother” — even though Mitchell always responds to Media Watch requests and gave an on-camera interview to former host Jonathon Holmes. When pressed again on why Barry did not at least call the editor-in-chief, he put the phone down on Davidson. While Barry painted a dismal picture of the newspaper’s finances, The Australian chief executive Nicholas Gray said the truth was there had never been more people paying for The Australian’s weekday product across print and digital on an unduplicated basis. “That’s a claim that no other Australian masthead can make,” Mr Gray said. The Australian’s share of print advertising revenue is expected to rise this year, following its circulation share gains and its unique broadsheet ad format offering, which only The Australian will be able to offer when The Sydney Morning Herald and move to a compact size on Saturday. “There is a certain impact that advertising in broadsheet has and, from March, we’ll be the only publication to be able to offer that,” Mr Gray said. “The uniqueness of that advertising offering combined with our circulation share will hold us in good stead. So we are very optimistic about being in print advertising as we go into our 50th anniversary year.” Mr Gray said circulation revenue was strong, with cover price increases from $1.50 to $2.20 over the past three years more than making up for any circulation decline in the same period. The Australian’s paid digital subscriber numbers had increased from 57,000 in the December quarter to 65,000 this week, Mitchell said, and they would be closer to 75,000 if News followed the Fairfax model of including in the data six-day newspaper subscribers who received digital access for free. After a brief experimentation under former News Corp chief Kim Williams, Mitchell found the freemium model, preferred by The Wall Street Journal, to be far more effective than metering, which works for The New York Times. Digital subscription growth at The Australian is driven by exclusive stories and high-quality analysis that is not left-leaning, like most journalism found at the ABC, BBC, The Guardian and Fairfax. “If I look carefully at the future and our opportunity with bundling content with Business Spectator and the Eureka Report and our relationship with The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, The Australian probably has the best future in the digital world,” Mitchell said. “Given our average Monday to Friday circulation is about 110,000-115,000, our digital subscriptions passed the halfway point of our daily print sale a long time ago. Not many papers in the world have achieved that.”