The Sydney Morning Herald
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.
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 the Audit Bureau of Circulations as of March 2006, the
Herald circulated 211,700 copies per weekday compared to 388,686 copies of the
Telegraph. The Saturday editions of both papers are more closely matched. The
Herald sells 365,500 copies to the
Telegraph's 347,889. 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.
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).
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.
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List of newspapers in Australia*
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The Sydney Morning Herald website
