All Episodes

August 6, 2025 7 mins

This week, Australia's publishing rivals News Ltd and Nine did a deal that will see newspapers printed for the next five years. But how long can newspapers survive?

Fear & Greed Q+A: Join Sean Aylmer & Michael Thompson as they answer questions on business, investing, economics, politics and more. If you have your own question, get in touch via our websiteLinkedInInstagram or Facebook!

Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Michael Thompson. Hello, Sean Aylmer, Hello Michael John. Today
how long can newspapers survive? We spoke this week about
News Corp and Nine, the two major publishers in this country,
along with Australian Community Media, signing a deal that would

(00:26):
see them consolidate print sites. It's going to save millions
of dollars and there are reports from both sides basically
that this contract is going to last for another five years.
You are, i would say, well, at least within the
Fear and Greed team, uniquely qualified to give us your
take on this, because, first of all, your credentials you

(00:47):
were the editorial director at Fairfax and you've worked as
a business journalist, as an editor and in a lot
of different newsrooms. What did that involve first of all,
and then we'll get into where we're heading.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So my job by the end there was to run
the newsrooms at the fin Review, the Cinney Morning Herald,
the Age, WA and Brisbane websites. I didn't have Fairfax
at the time, didn't have print operations in those cities.
So that was it. Now, a lot of that was
obviously dealing with journalists, but a lot of it was

(01:22):
actually dealing with corporate part of Fairfax, and it was
all about how do we make money the revenue side,
marketing side, distribution side, really big one, how do we
keep print going back? Then, the issue was that print
brought in all the money that story earlier in the
week publishing print brings in forty percent of the money.

(01:45):
Six percent must be digital, I suppose, but that is
still a lot of money coming in via print.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
So we have been Then are we in a trend
of declining circulations? Then? For print publications? Is that the
issue here? Is there a migration towards digital or is
it a bigger issue?

Speaker 2 (02:09):
It might be apocryphal, but it's kind of right. The
day that the Fairfax Sydney Morning Herald it printed a
four hundred page edition and it was in their new
Printing Press in Western Sydney and quite an incredible moment

(02:34):
for the organization. New Printing Press opened four hundred page
Saturday edition of the Sydney Morning Herald and that was
its peak. So basically the day the press, well, you know,
the week or the month that the press new Printing
Press opened at Chilaura, it started going backwards, started going
the wrong way.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
When was that roughly, just.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Trying to remember, early two thousands. I think I may
have that wrong, but that was its peak and the
business model broke. People consumed news online, not in print.
It's as simple as that. Newspapers are fairly simple businesses.
You can tell how well they're doing by the number
of ads in them. You can tell how thick. So

(03:15):
I don't know what a Cinny Morning Herald weekend edition
is now maybe one hundred pages, eighty to one hundred pages.
I'm guessing about a quarter of the size of what
it was the ad. So what you do get in
newspapers some so Harvey Norman so Jerry Harvey has always
been a huge supporter of print. So that's Harvey Norman

(03:35):
and Domain are the travel companies huge supporters of print,
and Thad huge supporters of print. So they form guides.
And I'm not just talking Fairfax here, I'm talking news
Corp as well. That form guide is a very valuable
thing to have, especially for things like The Herald's Sun Daily,
Telly Career Mail. Those sorts of groups, but the glory

(03:58):
days are gone.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
How much of that as well? It was tied to
the decline of the classifiers, because remember the classifiers, weren't
they referred to as like the rivers of gold, and
you just might see one page of classifieds.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, classified classifiers. The rivers of gold were even before
my time in a sense that was really late nineteen
It was like nineteen seventies, eighties nineties. They were really
rivers of gold. But once the Internet was created and
people could buy online, it just took a lot of

(04:37):
the gloss off that now seek and domain and not castles.
But one of those ones actually grew out of those
rivers of gold and they emerged from that. In the end,
Fairfax owned domain successor nine has just out of domain.

(05:01):
But really fair Facts as it was, never really held
on to those rivers of gold in a digital world,
and that was really where the declient kicked in. Now,
good luck to my I hope they keep going for
a long time. But I remember talking to the CEO
of the New York Times, it must have been fifteen
years ago, and he said he gave the New York

(05:22):
Times a decade as a print daily Print Group last
year Rip and Murdoch said, if they're lucky, they'll have
fifteen more years. So we've been talking about the decline
and death of newspapers forever, well not forever, but for
twenty years. They haven't happened yet. Personally, I would be

(05:42):
absolutely stunned if there were still daily printed newspapers in
ten years time, Like, I just don't think that'll be.
There may be weeklies. But the other big issue, which
you don't sort of use it for get about, it's
actually distribution. So it's not just a creation, but how

(06:03):
do you get the newspaper into someone's hand. Now people
used to have it delivered to their doorstep. It's actually
really hard to do that, that last mile to get
from the newsagent because newsagents don't want to be delivering
newspapers anymore, and so there's a lot of talk about
how you do that, and that's a real problem. It's
okay if you can go and throw forty copies at

(06:23):
an office building, but you can't deliver newspapers. So it's
not just people not wanting them, but actually it's hard
for people to get them. Buying them now is hard.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
So it's a decade is that what you reckon at best?
Like that is that probably been.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
That general absolute best. I mean, I think the deal
that was done between news Corp, Stoning Community Media and Nine,
that deal ten you. They those guys hate each other.
They have always hated each other arch enemies. And I
know that Nine wanted to do a deal with news
Corp about fifteen years ago. News Corp said no. So

(07:00):
the fact that they're doing it just shows how desperate
all sides are.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
All Right, it seems like a good place to leave it.
Thank you very much, Sean.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Thank you, Michael.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Remember if you've got something that you'd like to know,
then send through a question on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or
at Fearangreed dot com dot au. I'm Michael Thompson and
this is Fear and Greed Q and a
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.