Rupert Murdoch gives print a deadline – his 105th birthday
Rupert Murdoch has given the humble printed newspaper, the medium upon which he built his business’s bones, a 15-year deadline until its demise, “with a lot of luck”.
This was the most interesting part of Sky News’ The Australian: 60 Years of News, which aired on Monday night, with its centrepiece being an “exclusive” interview with Murdoch.
In the chat, Murdoch revealed he is not a climate change denier but a sceptic, sees artificial intelligence as a “force for good” despite admitting “it will put people out of work” and expects The Australian to be around in another 60 years “in some form”.
He thinks we are “absolutely on the wrong track” when it comes to Australia’s net zero targets and wants to abolish coal in favour of natural gas.
But it’s the prediction that newspapers will die out completely in 15 years that is the most interesting.
I mean, it seems an obvious enough statement, but close enough to show he isn’t a dinosaur trapped in the days of newsprint and office cigarettes.
Unless we see Murdoch living until he is 105, what he is effectively saying is “not on my watch”.
This prediction was made during what was intended as a celebration of print news and its resilience through the lens of the unflappable The Australian.
During the cozy chat/hard-hitting Sky News expose, Murdoch also observed that, these days, nobody reads the newspaper on the train, instead choosing to access their news via a portable mobile device. The habits are the same – “they’re reading all the facts,” Murdoch said of these paperless commuters, “on their phones”.
Murdoch is perhaps even more sentimental about print’s legacy than his cold 15-year death prediction suggests.
Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie launched The Nightly earlier this year, an evening digital newspaper that straddles the line between the ease of the internet and the structure and format of a traditional newspaper, with the columns and the page-turning swoosh. Its major selling point, however, is that it comes as an evening edition. De Ceglie sees value in the curated form that has evolved with the print newspaper, but he has upended the time of day when the news is delivered.
“That idea of waking up in the morning, and reading the newspaper around the kitchen table just doesn’t really exist anymore,” De Ceglie told Mumbrella earlier this year.
“You wake up in the morning: your life is chaotic, juggling school runs and daycare, drop-offs, and emails, and rushing to get into work. And so, you know, people are reading more at night; they’re trying to get informed more at night, through podcasts, and binge-watching TV shows, and that sort of stuff. And so we thought, ‘You know what, it all kind of makes sense.’”
It does make sense, especially when using the launchpad of Seven News, the country’s top nightly news bulletin. And when taking into account rising print costs, and the general shift away from destroying the natural environment.
And Seven knows all-too-well the cost of printing a physical paper, given it owns Colourpress, the only printer of major newspapers in Western Australia. This happy monopoly came under fire recently when the Nine-owned Australian Financial Review was forced to stop publishing print editions in Western Australia, claiming the printers “demanded a new contract that doubled the cost of printing”.
The Australian, owned by News Corp and also printed at Colourpress, was not subject to the same price hike, according to Nine, with the AFR’s editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury spitting chips about “the uncompetitive abuse of market power that has forced the end of printing and distributing” the paper in WA.
While there may be a bit of competitive tussling behind the price increase, it is true that – despite Rupert admitting to being a climate sceptic – daily mass-produced print newspapers are unsustainable.
Back in 2022, Nine announced, and quickly backtracked on, a decision to stop printing The Age and Australian Financial Review in Tasmania after printing costs jumped 80% in 12 months at the ACM-owned facility they used.
The government knows all about these rising paper costs, being forced that same year to offer up north of $10 million to Country Press Australia so they could keep printing newspapers in rural areas. The government also gave $2 million to prop up Australia’s last papermill, operated out of Tasmania by a company named Norske Skog, which sounds like a baddie from Mighty Ducks.
In case you missed that, Australia is down to its final paper mill, one that needed government funding to be viable.
Suddenly, 15 years seems very optimistic. And after all, even if they suddenly begin printing and selling newspapers by the mega-truckload, there’s nobody counting them these days.
In April, the Audited Media Association of Australia group announced it would cease its print auditing services that had kept publishers honest(ish) for decades.
Justifying their dwindling interest, the AMAA said: “The changing nature of print media and the growing focus on readership and other reporting metrics has resulted in a decrease in the need for traditional media audits, and while the AMAA has continued to provide this service over the last four years, the time is right to shift our attention.”
Ouch. Luckily for newspapers, there are still good news stories if you know where to look.
This past week saw the launch of three print newspapers into the Australian market: the Byron Coast Times, Tweed Coast Times, and Ballina Times, which brings regional operator Times News Group’s stable to 13 mastheads across Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales.
Murdoch’s empire started with The News of Adelaide, a single paper with a circulation of 75,000. And 13 newspapers across three states could just be the beginnings of a similar major media player.
Suddenly, 13 seems like a lucky number. And maybe 15 years is too soon.
Now, there’s a prediction. Act surprised – and enjoy your weekend.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Destroyer of all things News(Corp)..
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Murduch being delusional
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