Media shift expected
The upheaval in the news media in Australia, with the announcement of thousands of job losses in the two main newspaper chains, changes to the format of newspapers and the closing of printing plants, is the most dramatic in decades. It is also entirely unsurprising. It is part of an unprecedented adjustment to the media landscape, from print to various forms of electronic delivery, that began about a decade ago and is now being seen with increasing speed around much of the world. As wide-ranging as the moves this week in Australia are, they are by no means the end of the story.
The seeds of the change were sown in the 1990s, when newspapers, unsure of the implications of the growth of the internet and what their part in it might be, began to provide basic news coverage on the web free of charge. Radio and television had been providing news services to listeners and viewers for decades, of course, but for newspapers, with their generally much larger newsrooms and commitment to indepth investigative journalism, the game changed. Internet users became used to the idea that news would be available without charge. Existing media companies have been working to create a viable business model to meet this expectation ever since.
The first forays of mainstream print media to the internet, like many other such internet enterprises about the turn of the century, did not turn out well. Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Ltd, the biggest newspaper company in Australia, lost tens of millions of dollars in his first moves to the internet and he shied away from it for several years afterwards. Fairfax Media, the other main Australian newspaper group, also spent a substantial sum and missed some opportunities, but still has strong internet operations in Australia.
As readers have migrated to electronic devices of various sorts, the demand for print products has shrunk and changed. When the in London commissioned a new printing press about five years ago, the editor said it would be last the paper would build. The announcements this week by Fairfax and News Ltd also recognise this, the former closing printing plants and changing from broadsheet to a compact format to provide greater appeal to commuter readers. The changes have been given added urgency by the fact that the move of readers and advertisers to the internet has coincided with a downturn in the economy, which has reduced advertiser and consumer spending.
New Zealand is a different market from Australia. Most daily newspapers, for instance, do not have competition from another daily in their main circulation areas. But the market is not immune to the same pressures that are being felt elsewhere. While which is owned by Fairfax New Zealand, a division of Fairfax Media, remains committed to print, and commissioned a new $30 million printing press three years ago, change is inevitable. Because of the size of the market and the country’s still fitful broadband service, the change may be later here, but
is already devoting more resources to its already considerable web presence.
The turmoil in Australia this week may have been dramatic, but that is probably because the media there have not been as fleet-footed as they might have been. It is merely part of an evolution of the news business that, as digital media grows, will continue for some time to come.