The Sydney Morning Herald

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The Sydney Morning Herald is a major Australian broadsheet newspaper published daily in Australia's oldest and most populous city, Sydney. It is also the oldest Australian newspaper, having been continuously published since 1831. Since then, over 51,000 editions have been produced.

Contents

1 Overview
2 History
3 Journalism
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Overview

The Sydney Morning Herald is recorded as being read by a stronger representation of the so-called, "AB demographic", (the highest demographic in terms of education, income and occupation) than its main competitor, the only other major daily newspaper in Sydney, the Murdoch-owned The Daily Telegraph. It is often seen as the paper of the educated middle class.

The Herald attempts to maintain editorial balance, with both left leaning contributors like David Marr and cartoonist Michael Leunig, and conservative writers such as Miranda Devine and Gerard Henderson. Recently, politicians Tony Abbott (Liberal, Warringah) and Tanya Plibersek (Labor, Sydney) have been given column space under the heading "Insight" for general comment. Historically the paper was characterised as a right of centre, old-school conservative organ of the Establishment, providing a counter-point within Fairfax's holdings to the liberal Melbourne Age, especially during David Syme's tenure as editor of the latter, and it did not editorialise in favour of Labor at a state election until 2003. The Fairfax papers (the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age), seen as centrist, are often contrasted with the News Limited papers (The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun), which tend to be more right-leaning, and "the Fairfax press" is often used pejoratively by conservative commentators.

Its circulation is smaller than the Telegraph; according to circulation data published in the first half of 2004, the Herald sells about 221,000 copies per weekday compared to around 409,000 copies of the Telegraph. The Saturday editions of both papers are more closely matched. The Herald sells 375,000 copies to the Telegraph's 345,000. The Saturday edition of the Herald carries a massive classified section - a popular selling point and a powerful source of cash revenue for the company. In the coverage of Fairfax's business affairs, this revenue has often been referred to as "rivers of gold". Like The Age, the demographics of its readers are more attractive to many advertisers than its tabloid competitor.

The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a number of daily sections, as large-format magazines, some of which have been part of the newspaper's infrastructure for more than two decades. They currently include a motoring section, Drive, a food and lifestyle section, Good Living, a property section, Domain, and a television section, The Guide. It also produces two colour magazines, the weekly Good Weekend, and the monthly the(sydney)magazine. The cryptic crossword in the Sydney Morning Herald is popular. Column 8 is another long-running institution.

The Herald is a broadsheet, meaning that each page is approximately A2 in size. Tabloid newspapers, such as its competitor The Daily Telegraph, are considerably smaller, with each page having a size of approximately A3.

Since the advent of the Internet, the Herald has developed a comprehensive online presence with all major news stories available for online viewing and retained online for some time.

History

The Sydney Morning Herald began its life as a weekly newspaper, the Sydney Herald. It only had four pages and a circulation of 750 copies. The paper was named after Scotland's Glasgow Herald, and was founded by three Englishmen, Alfred Stephens, Frederick Stokes and William McGarvie.

A decade later it was bought by Charles Kemp and John Fairfax. It became a daily newspaper in 1840, and in 1842 changed its name to The Sydney Morning Herald. Its editorial policies were based "upon principles of candour, honesty and honour. We have no wish to mislead; no interest to gratify by unsparing abuse or indiscriminate approbation."

The Fairfax family owned the newspaper for 149 years but lost control of it on December 11, 1990 following financial misadventure of Warwick Fairfax. It is currently controlled by John Fairfax Holdings.

The company also owns The Sun-Herald, the Sunday counterpart to the Herald, and a number of community newspapers in Sydney. It also owns various other newspapers and magazines throughout Australia and New Zealand, including The Age (a similar broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne).

Journalism

Prominent columnists and journalists who write for The Sydney Morning Herald include Robert Manne, Doug Anderson, Paul Sheehan, Anthony Dennis, Miranda Devine, Adele Horin, Michael Idato, Julia Baird, Mike Carlton, Gerard Henderson, Alan Ramsey, Peter FitzSimons, David Marr, Roy Masters, Keith Austin, Deborah Smith, Maggie Alderson and Richard Glover.

References

External links

[The Sydney Morning Herald website]