Extract from The Guardian
If Australians think a plurality of voices is important in a democracy, they can make it reality
Five
years ago my colleague Katharine Murphy and I took a leap into the
unknown, leaving comfortable jobs with a news company we loved, Fairfax Media, to help start Guardian Australia.
I clearly remember my conversation at the time with an incredulous chief executive, Greg Hywood, who could not fathom what I was doing. The Guardian, he said, might be a brand in some suburbs in London, but the only news brands that would ever have clout in Australia were Fairfax and News Corp.
This week Hywood sold Fairfax to Nine. If the deal goes through as expected, Fairfax will cease to exist as a brand, becoming part of Nine Entertainment Co. Nine chief, Hugh Marks, who will lead the new company, was very clear that the Stan streaming service and the Domain real estate business were the main prizes in the deal.
It was a brutal reminder of how fast things have changed. Once, journalism and a viable advertising model were inextricably linked. The journalism brought the eyeballs to the advertising, the advertising paid for the reporting. But Google and Facebook have upended that.
Nine Entertainment Co will undoubtedly have more clout in the advertising market. That was the whole point of the deal. But, as Marks made clear, journalism will be a sidebar in the new business.
With the advertising power no longer linked to the “clout” of the reporting, quality and independence can quickly be eroded by budget cuts, the lure of easy clicks or managerial indifference, even if the new Nine board signs on to the Fairfax charter of editorial independence as it has promised. Most in the industry are reluctantly predicting that this will be Fairfax’s future. I truly hope they’re wrong. If you honestly believe in media diversity you want the strongest possible competition, and Fairfax journalists include many of the best in the business. I hope they are able to keep producing their very best work. I know for sure they’ll try. But the pessimists about the future of Fairfax journalism conclude that Nine’s takeover leaves Australian reporting in the hands of Seven, Nine and News Corp, and the precious public broadcasters, which are under political pressure so intense some describe it as an existential threat. They say new entrants, such as Guardian Australia, are “minnows”. I say to them, in an age of disruption many things can and will change. It is not necessary to assume that the way things are is the way they must be. And news readers have agency in this disorder. Guardian Australia might be comparatively small, but we were read by almost 3 million Australians last month, our audience is growing and the “clout” of our reporting can already be tracked through a growing cabinet of awards and a lengthening list of inquiries or policy changes as a result of our investigations. We’ve created 80 new media jobs as the big companies shed them and a workplace that values the talented Australian team we’ve attracted. We face the same advertising pressures as everyone else but we have turned to readers to help fund what we do, which links our financial future to doing the very best journalism, not to entertainment “plays” or clickbait. Asking for voluntary contributions means our journalism remains open to everyone, without a paywall. We’re independent by structure (no shareholders or owners) and by deliberate intent. Bringing readers stories and information they don’t get elsewhere is our primary purpose. However Fairfax-as-a-subsidiary-of-Nine pans out for journalism, the path of this media disruption will be up to readers, as it always should be.
If Australians think a plurality of news voices is important in a society and a democracy, if they are worried that our concentration of media ownership – already among the highest in the world – just got much worse, they can do something about it.
They can read and support Guardian Australia, or other independent outlets, such as perhaps the Saturday Paper or Buzzfeed or Crikey, and then the readership and “clout” of those organisations will expand.
Guardian Australia’s aim was always to build an option; a quality, independent news option as the media landscape started to crumble. That, Greg, is why we left.
I clearly remember my conversation at the time with an incredulous chief executive, Greg Hywood, who could not fathom what I was doing. The Guardian, he said, might be a brand in some suburbs in London, but the only news brands that would ever have clout in Australia were Fairfax and News Corp.
This week Hywood sold Fairfax to Nine. If the deal goes through as expected, Fairfax will cease to exist as a brand, becoming part of Nine Entertainment Co. Nine chief, Hugh Marks, who will lead the new company, was very clear that the Stan streaming service and the Domain real estate business were the main prizes in the deal.
It was a brutal reminder of how fast things have changed. Once, journalism and a viable advertising model were inextricably linked. The journalism brought the eyeballs to the advertising, the advertising paid for the reporting. But Google and Facebook have upended that.
Nine Entertainment Co will undoubtedly have more clout in the advertising market. That was the whole point of the deal. But, as Marks made clear, journalism will be a sidebar in the new business.
With the advertising power no longer linked to the “clout” of the reporting, quality and independence can quickly be eroded by budget cuts, the lure of easy clicks or managerial indifference, even if the new Nine board signs on to the Fairfax charter of editorial independence as it has promised. Most in the industry are reluctantly predicting that this will be Fairfax’s future. I truly hope they’re wrong. If you honestly believe in media diversity you want the strongest possible competition, and Fairfax journalists include many of the best in the business. I hope they are able to keep producing their very best work. I know for sure they’ll try. But the pessimists about the future of Fairfax journalism conclude that Nine’s takeover leaves Australian reporting in the hands of Seven, Nine and News Corp, and the precious public broadcasters, which are under political pressure so intense some describe it as an existential threat. They say new entrants, such as Guardian Australia, are “minnows”. I say to them, in an age of disruption many things can and will change. It is not necessary to assume that the way things are is the way they must be. And news readers have agency in this disorder. Guardian Australia might be comparatively small, but we were read by almost 3 million Australians last month, our audience is growing and the “clout” of our reporting can already be tracked through a growing cabinet of awards and a lengthening list of inquiries or policy changes as a result of our investigations. We’ve created 80 new media jobs as the big companies shed them and a workplace that values the talented Australian team we’ve attracted. We face the same advertising pressures as everyone else but we have turned to readers to help fund what we do, which links our financial future to doing the very best journalism, not to entertainment “plays” or clickbait. Asking for voluntary contributions means our journalism remains open to everyone, without a paywall. We’re independent by structure (no shareholders or owners) and by deliberate intent. Bringing readers stories and information they don’t get elsewhere is our primary purpose. However Fairfax-as-a-subsidiary-of-Nine pans out for journalism, the path of this media disruption will be up to readers, as it always should be.
If Australians think a plurality of news voices is important in a society and a democracy, if they are worried that our concentration of media ownership – already among the highest in the world – just got much worse, they can do something about it.
They can read and support Guardian Australia, or other independent outlets, such as perhaps the Saturday Paper or Buzzfeed or Crikey, and then the readership and “clout” of those organisations will expand.
Guardian Australia’s aim was always to build an option; a quality, independent news option as the media landscape started to crumble. That, Greg, is why we left.
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