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Download State of the News Print Media 2008 Contents About the Council ............................................................................................................ i 1 Trends ...............................................................................................................1-1 2 Who’s Reading What? .......................................................................................2-7 2.1 Themes ..............................................................................................2-7 2.2 Overview of Circulation and Readership .............................................2-8 2.3 Metropolitan and National Dailies .......................................................2-8 2.4 Readership of Online News ..............................................................2-13 2.5 Readership of Regional and Community Newspapers ......................2-15 3 Ownership .........................................................................................................3-1 3.1 Ownership Themes ............................................................................3-1 3.2 Ownership Changes...........................................................................3-2 3.3 The future of newspapers – proprietors confident ..............................3-8 4 Online Publishing ...............................................................................................4-1 4.1 Themes ..............................................................................................4-1 4.2 Convergence, Online and New Media News .....................................4-2 4.3 Blogs and newspapers .....................................................................4-8 5 Journalistic practices and the quality of journalism .............................................5-1 5.1 Themes ..............................................................................................5-1 5.2 Churnalism .........................................................................................5-2 5.3 The Citizen Journalist and news images .............................................5-5 5.4 Chequebook Journalism ...................................................................5-7 6 Content Analysis ...............................................................................................6-1 6.1 Themes ..............................................................................................6-1 6.2 The reporting of the Mohamed Haneef story ......................................6-3 6.3 Four weeks in the World of The Sydney Morning Herald ...................6-14 7 Press Freedom and Access to information ........................................................7-1 7.1 Themes ..............................................................................................7-1 7.2 Press Freedom 2007-2008 ................................................................7-2 7.3 Freedom of Information ....................................................................7-16 8 Education, Training & Management of Journalists ..............................................8-1 8.1 Themes ..............................................................................................8-1 8.1 Managing Generational Change in the Newsroom ..............................8-2 8.3 Corporate change and Australian regional newspapers ......................8-6 Australian Press Council Australian Press 8.4 Education & Training For Convergent Media Production ...................8-12 Notes ................................................................................................................. Notes-1 II State of the News Print Medai in Australia 2008 About the Australian Press Council The Australian Press Council Incorporated is the self-regulatory body of the print media. It was established in 1976 by the print media industry, with no government involvement, and has two main aims: to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically and to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press within Australia. To carry out its former function, it serves as a forum to which anyone may take a complaint concerning questions of editorial ethics (but not about advertising or the commercial operations) in the press. It settles over half of all such complaints by conciliation. In its attempts to preserve the freedom of the press, which is in essence the freedom of the people to be informed, it keeps a watching brief on developments that might impinge on such freedoms and makes representations to governments, parliaments, the courts and other relevant bodies. The Council is funded by the newspaper and magazine industries, although it is independent from interference from its constituent bodies, and its authority rests on the willingness of publishers and editors to respect the Council’s views, to adhere voluntarily to ethical standards and to admit mistakes publicly. The Council consists of 22 members, representing the publishers, journalists and members of the public, and is chaired by an independent Chairman. It meets every six weeks, usually in Sydney, where it maintains a small office, headed by the Executive Secretary. One of the main items on the agenda at each meeting is the consideration and adjudication of any complaints referred to it. The Council is an incorporated association that has the power to amend its own Constitution, with the approval of the constituent bodies. It has wide powers to determine and vary its internal structures and procedures. Further information on the Council can be found at http://www.presscouncil.org.au Australian Press Council Australian Press 1Chapter 1 Trends by Ken McKinnon Australian Press Council While there is clearly evidence of a speedy response from media companies to the unprecedented collapse of world financial markets of late 2008, and to continuing rapid technological developments, those forces do not fully account for all of the trends that we report in this edition of the State of the News Print Media in Australia. There have certainly been evolutionary changes in newsrooms and in reporters’ roles, but the frequent prophecies of the imminent end of newspapers from the doomsayers have not been accurate for Australia, at least not yet. Discussion of trends in the print media, as a consequence, raises as many questions as answers. The key trends that emerge from the material discussed in this edition include: 1 Convergence of media platforms has transformed newsrooms, requiring multi-skilled staff and reformed training practices, both in tertiary institutions and media organisations, and has led to substantial job losses. 2 Weekday circulation in broadsheets is generally holding steady, while there has been decline in tabloid circulation; the decline being more apparent in Sunday newspapers. 3 There have been continuing sharp increases in the number of readers accessing newspapers via the internet. 4 There have been steep falls in circulation in the magazine market, in individual titles, balanced somewhat by the publication of more titles in particular niche markets. 5 Traditional news values persist within established media organisations despite changed newsrooms and new media, even in the face of persistent official spin. Newspapers alone provide the sort of detailed background to, and analysis of, major stories that enable readers to place the matter within a relevant context. 6 There has been increased concentration of ownership into three main companies, News Ltd, Fairfax and APN News and Media. Australian Press Council Australian Press 1 7. Debates over increased use of outside contributions to newspapers continue. There appears to be greater reliance on press release material, news agency feeds from affiliated overseas newspapers, blogging and other sources including readers and paid (chequebook) contributions but data are scarce. Blogging on newspaper sites, by external contributors as well as employed journalists, has increased rapidly. 8. The vigorous efforts of the Press Council, and latterly the publishers’ Right to Know campaign, have arrested the trend of several years toward erosion of free speech. Announcements of intention to legislate for more political openness, better Freedom of Information laws and practices, whistleblower protection and journalist shield laws have been encouraging. All of the metropolitan, and some regional and rural newspapers, now have online editions which are enjoying spectacular traffic growth (doubling, or more, in a year) and growing advertising revenue. Online news publishing was supposed to cannibalise the circulation of the daily newspapers, but puzzling figures have emerged. Between 2006 and 2008 the Monday to Saturday circulation figures show that the “quality press”, The Australian, The Financial Review, The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald are holding their own. On the other hand, pretty well all the metropolitan tabloids are suffering Monday to Saturday circulation declines of about 3 per cent. What should we make of that? Is it really a flight to quality? The trend is contrary to the rationale that some newspapers made when changing from broadsheet to tabloid: that reader preferences are for more easily managed newspapers with shorter more easily digestible articles. Sunday newspapers generally are suffering worryingly large circulation declines close to 6 per cent for the higher circulation papers and around 4 per cent for the others. What can be the reason? Is it a reflection, like the claims made for the decline in tabloid sales, the product’s quality? In aggregate, regional
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