Butby2015,Fairfaxhadsoldbothprintingpressesfora reported
$61million.Thecompany,whichwentontobeacquiredbyNine
EntertainmentCoin2018,hadspenta reported$385millionbuild-
ingandupgradingtheChullorafacilityalonefrom 1996 to2001.It
wouldalsogoontodownsizemastheadsTheSydneyMorningHerald
andTheAgetotabloid-sizepapersandshareprintingfacilitieswith
rivalNewsCorpAustraliaina bidfrombothtosaveoncosts.
Publishersalsostruggledwiththeirfirststepsintodigitalbyoften
misunderstandingthenatureofonlineadvertisingandsimplytrying
totransitiontheirprintmodeltotheonlineworld.
“It's quiteclear alotofmistakesweremade,”saysMerja
Myllylahti,co-directorofthejournalism,mediaanddemocracy
researchcentreatAucklandUniversityofTechnology.“Theydidn't
thinkaboutwhatonlineadvertisingisearlyenough.Theyexperi-
mentedwithdifferentmodelsandwerereliantonthingssuchas
banneradvertising,but they didn't see the transformation for clas-
sified advertising.”F
ollowingnewsofredundan-
cies,staffatFairfaxMedia’s
Sydney and Melbourne news-
roomswalkedoutfora fullweek
of protests in 2017. The cuts,
impactingmorethan 100 roles,
wereconsideredtoodeepfora
companythat hadalreadylost
closeto 2000 stafffiveyearsear-
lier. While the walkout made
internationalheadlines,itmade
littledifference,withAustralian
newspublisherscontinuingtotrim
rolesaroundthenationasadver-
tisingrevenuecontinuedtofall.
The decline of advertising
revenuethat oncepropped up
journalismhasbeensharplyfeltin
recentyearsthroughlayoffsand
sometimestitleclosures.However,
thetrendstretchesbacktwodec-
adeswhenclassifiedadvertising
wasunbundledfromnewspapers
withthearrivaloftheinternet.
Newtechnologymeantadvertisers
couldreacha wider,moretargeted
audienceforless.
From 2001 to2016,classified
advertisingrevenueinAustralia
droppedfrom$2billionto$
million,accordingtoestimates
fromtheAustralianCompetition
and Consumer Commission
(ACCC). When adjusted for
inf lation,that’s$3.7billiondown
to$225million.
Atthetime,publishingexecu-
tivesdidn’tappeartorespondwith
thesameforcethattheiradvertising
revenueswereleavingtheirbusi-
nesses.Instead,theyspenttheearly
yearsofthenewmillenniumtrying
toshoreupgrowthinaddollars.
In2002,thenFairfaxMedia
CEOFredHilmeroutlinedthecom-
pany’srevenuefocusinitsfinancial
report:“Wecompleteda restruc-
turingwithinthepublishingoper-
ationstosharpenourfocusongen-
eratinggrowthinadvertisingreve-
nuesacrossthemetropolitanmast-
headsinthekeyadvertisingcatego-
riesofrealestate,employmentand
automotive, and in retail and
nationaldisplayadvertising.
“Thiswillenablethecompany
tocapitaliseonthesignificant
investmentsinexpandedprinting
andcolourcapacityatTullamarine
andChullora.Ourcustomersare
alsobeingaffordedfurtherjoint
print and online advertising
opportunities.”
It’sa bit
unreasonable
tothinkthat
newspaper
publisherswould
haveseenthatthese
newandbetter
mechanismsof
advertisingwould
be developed.Amanda Lotz, QUT
Agenda