Peter Carey’s message to Fairfax
SH
June 03
Dear Everybody,
Shortly before she died the syndicated American journalist Molly Ivins had this to say about her financially ailing profession: “What really pisses me off is this most remarkable business plan: Newspaper owners look at one another and say, ‘Our rate of return is slipping a bit; let’s solve that problem by making our product smaller and less helpful and less interesting.”’ Can outsourcing vital functions like subbing and design save so much money it is worth the complete demoralization of your remaining staff? And what affect does such a decision have on your loyal readers?
It is hard for us not to notice that as the newsprint edition suffers a thousand cuts the online editions continue to grow more clickable, cheekier and noticeably less thoughtful than their paper siblings. Am I wrong to see in your latest business decision the relegation of the paper edition to the position of “the poor relation” whose future you clearly don’t see as an investment? Would I be right in guessing that the ‘editorial’ decisions of the online versions are made less and less by journalists and more by someone counting ‘hits’? Right or wrong this is the impression the online versions give as they veer towards tabloid sensationalism losing the very defining strength of Fairfax newspapers — in one word the “quality” of their journalism. And without an editorial vision and quality journalism what is left?
The numbers may appear convincing, but how do you measure the organic damage to a beloved newspaper? What happens to the culture and energy of the surviving members of your staff, their morale, their desire to go the extra mile for you? You will speak encouragingly to them, of course, but the survivors are worldly people who will know they are now unsafe. They will see you do not care about what you promised you would always care about.
I would guess you have conducted focus groups as you think about your future, but focus groups may easily underestimate the ability of ordinary readers to react to gradual changes in a paper’s personality, its seriousness, its look, its tone. By underestimating your consumers, by removing their pleasures, you run the risk of destroying the very market you are trying to save.
Thanks to Peter Carey for allow Meanjin to publish this letter – Sally Heath, Meanjin editor and former Fairfax employee.
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Comments
03 Jun 11 at 12:20
“Thanks to Peter Carey for allow Meanjin to publish this letter” see that is why Fairfax journos (current or ex) need subs
...14 Jun 11 at 15:30
I worked for a regional Fairfax paper for 15 years as a columnist and reporter from an isolated town.They sacked me as things got tight in the newspaper game.I now supply news for the locals via our own web site, tilligerry.com This is a better news service,costs nothing and is the way of the future.Peter Carey needs to move with the times otherwise he will go the way of the dinosaur.
...23 Jun 11 at 17:56
Perhaps Geoff Walker failed to notice that Peter Carey was writing about the quality of the journalism, more than whether it appeared on line or on paper. Anyone who has read The Age for years (50 or more in my case as well as being a past contributor) would be concerned about the gulf between the standards it used to maintain and those now all too apparent.
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