The Australian
The Australian, with its Saturday edition The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.[5][6][7][8] As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right.[3][9]
This article is about the newspaper published by News Corp Australia. For the newspaper founded in 1824, see The Australian (1824 newspaper). For other uses, see The Australian (disambiguation).Type
Newspaper
Michelle Gunn[1]
Kelvin Healey[1]
14 July 1964
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Australia
810,000 (print); 2,394,000 (cross-platform) – Sep 2019[4]
Parent companies[edit]
The Australian is published by News Corp Australia,[10] an asset of News Corp, which also owns the sole daily newspapers in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, and Darwin, and the most circulated metropolitan daily newspapers in Sydney and Melbourne.[11] News Corp's Chairman and Founder is Rupert Murdoch.
The Australian integrates content from overseas newspapers owned by News Corp Australia's international parent News Corp, including The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London.[11]
History[edit]
The first edition of The Australian was published by Rupert Murdoch on 15 July 1964, becoming the third national newspaper in Australia following shipping newspaper Daily Commercial News (1891)[12] and Australian Financial Review (1951). Unlike other original Murdoch newspapers, it is not a tabloid publication.[13] At the time, a national paper was considered commercially unfeasible, as newspapers mostly relied on local advertising for their revenue. The Australian was printed in Canberra, then plates flown to other cities for copying.[14] From its inception, the paper struggled for financial viability, and ran at a loss for several decades.[13]
A Sunday edition, The Sunday Australian, was established in 1971.[15] It was discontinued in 1972, though, because press capacity was insufficient to print The Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Mirror, and it.[16]
The Australian's first editor was Maxwell Newton, before leaving the newspaper within a year,[14] and was succeeded by Walter Kommer, and then by Adrian Deamer. Under Deamer's editorship, The Australian encouraged female journalists, and was the first mainstream daily newspaper to hire an Aboriginal reporter, John Newfong.[17]
During the 1975 election, campaigning against the Whitlam government by its owner led to the newspaper's journalists striking over editorial direction.[14]
Editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell was appointed in 2002 and retired on 11 December 2015; he was replaced by Paul Whittaker, formerly the editor-in-chief of Sydney's Daily Telegraph.[18]
In May 2010, the newspaper launched the first Australian newspaper iPad application.[19]
In October 2011, The Australian announced that it was planning to become the first general newspaper in Australia to introduce a paywall, with the introduction of a $2.95/week charge for readers to view premium content on its website, mobile phone, and tablet apps.[20] The paywall was officially launched on 24 October, with a free 3-month trial.[21]
In September 2017, The Australian launched a Chinese website.[22]
In October 2018, Chris Dore, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail, and The Sunday Times (Western Australia) was announced as taking over as editor-in-chief.[23] After Dore resigned in November 2022, the newspaper appointed its first female editor-in-chief, Michelle Gunn, in January 2023.[24][1]
The editorial board began investigating a senior editor after allegations of misconduct were raised following events of the papers' Christmas drinks. The senior editor was accused of inappropriate conduct at the event by multiple female employees.[25]
Since 2019, The Australian has published an annual study, called Australia's Richest 250, which ranks the country's wealthiest people from one to 250, in order of their net worth.[26]
Coverage[edit]
Daily sections include national news ("The Nation"), world news ("Worldwide"), sport news, and business news ("Business"). Contained within each issue is a prominent opinion/editorial (op/ed) section, including regular columnists and occasional contributors. Other regular sections include technology ("Australian IT"), media (edited by Darren Davidson since 2015), features, legal affairs, aviation, defence, horse-racing ("Thoroughbreds"), the arts, health, wealth, and higher education. A traveland indulgence section is included on Saturdays, along with "The Inquirer", an in-depth analysis of major stories of the week, alongside much political commentary. Saturday lift-outs include "Review", focusing on books, arts, film, and television, and The Weekend Australian Magazine, the only national weekly glossy insert magazine. A glossy magazine, Wish, is published on the first Friday of the month.
"The Australian has long maintained a focus on issues relating to Aboriginal disadvantage."[11] It also devotes attention to the information technology, defence and mining industries,[11] as well as the science, economics, and politics of climate change. It has also published numerous special reports into Australia's energy policy, legal affairs, and research sector.[27]
The Australian Literary Review was a monthly supplement from September 2006 to October 2011.[28]
The tone and nature of The Australian's coverage has changed over time, but since the late 20th century under the ownership of Rupert Murdoch and with Chris Mitchell as editor-in-chief, it has taken a markedly conservative direction.[5][7][8] It was outspoken in supporting the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard.[6]
Notable stories[edit]
AWB kickback scandal[edit]
Caroline Overington, a senior journalist writing for The Australian, reported in 2005 about the Australian Wheat Board funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to Iraq and the government of Saddam Hussein before the start of the Iraq War.[43] This story became known as the AWB oil-for-wheat scandal, and resulted in a commission of inquiry into the matter.[44] Overington received a Walkley award for her coverage.[45]
Stimulus Watch[edit]
In 2009, The Australian ran a large number of articles about the Rudd government's Building the Education Revolution policy, which uncovered purported evidence of overpricing, financial waste, and mismanagement of the building of improvements to schools such as halls, gymnasia, and libraries. On the newspaper's website, a section named "Stimulus Watch", subtitled "How your Billions Are Being Spent", contained a large collection of such articles.[46]
The following year, other media outlets also reported these issues and the policy turned into a political embarrassment for the government, which until then had been able to ignore The Australian's reports. Along with the government's insulation stimulus policy, it contributed to criticisms, perceptions of incompetence, and general dissatisfaction with the government's performance.[47][48]
On 16 July 2010, Julia Gillard was reported to have admitted that the school-building program was flawed and that errors had been made because the program was designed in haste to protect jobs during the global financial crisis.[49]
AWU Affair[edit]
In 2011, Glenn Milne reported on the allegations against Prime Minister Julia Gillard concerning the AWU affair, including a claim regarding Gillard's living arrangements with Australian Workers' Union official Bruce Wilson. Gillard contacted the chief executive of The Australian, resulting in the story being removed and an apology and retraction posted in its place.[50]
On 18 August 2012, Hedley Thomas reported that Gillard had left her job as a partner with law firm Slater and Gordon as a direct result of a secret internal investigation in 1995 into corrupt conduct on behalf of her then-boyfriend Ralph Blewett.[51] The story was ignored for a long time by other media outlets until after Gillard held a press conference to respond to the allegations against her.[52] In 2013, the Fair Work Commission commenced initial inquiries into allegations of improper union financial conduct, and the government initiated a judicial inquiry into the AWU affair in December of that year as part of a royal commission into trade unions.[53]
The Teacher's Pet[edit]
The Teachers Pet, an investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Dawson, is a podcast written by Hedley Thomas and Slade Gibson that ran in 2018. It was credited with generating new leads that led to the subsequent arrest of Chris Dawson for the murder of his wife,[54] and the setting up of police enquiry Strike Force Southwood to explore claims of sexual assaults and student-teacher relationships at several Sydney high schools brought up on the podcast.[55] The series has had 28 million downloads,[56] was the number-one Australian podcast and reached number one in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand.[57] Both Hedley and Gibson received Gold Walkley awards for their work on the series.[58]
Columnists and contributors[edit]
Former columnists include Mike Steketee, David Burchell, Michael Stutchbury, Simon Adamek, Emma Jane, George Megalogenis, Glenn Milne,[50] Cordelia Fine,[59] Alan Wood, Michael Costa, P. P. McGuinness, Michael Costello, Frank Devine, Matt Price, Christopher Pearson, Niki Savva. Political cartoonist Bill Leak worked for the paper until his death.[60]
Stuart Rintoul (active from around 1989) was a senior writer with The Australian, with some expertise in Indigenous languages and history. His 2020 book Lowitja: The Authorised Biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue, a biography of Indigenous Australian trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue, was shortlisted for a Walkley Award for Best Non-Fiction Book, and was highly commended in the National Biography Awards in 2021.[61]
Columnists include Janet Albrechtsen, Troy Bramston, Henry Ergas, Ticky Fullerton, Antonella Gambotto-Burke, Robert Gottliebsen, Gideon Haigh, Paul Kelly, Chris Kenny, Brendan O'Neill, Nicolas Rothwell, Angela Shanahan, Dennis Shanahan, Greg Sheridan, Judith Sloan, Peter van Onselen, Graham Richardson, Peta Credlin,[62] and Claire Lehmann.[63] It also features daily cartoons from Johannes Leak.[60]
Occasional contributors include Gregory Melleuish, Kevin Donnelly, Caroline Overington, Tom Switzer, James Allan, Hal G.P. Colebatch, Luke Slattery, Noel Pearson, Bettina Arndt, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, and Lucian Boz.[64]
Contributors to The Weekend Australian Magazine and "Review" in The Weekend Australian include Phillip Adams, national art critic Christopher Allen, actor and writer Graeme Blundell, Jeremy Clarkson, Antonella Gambotto-Burke, author Trent Dalton, author Nikki Gemmell, poet Sarah Holland-Batt, and demographer Bernard Salt.[65] Film critic David Stratton retired in December 2023.[66][67]
Australian of the Year Award[edit]
In 1971, The Australian instituted its own "Australian of the Year award" separate and often different from the Australian of the Year chosen by the government's National Australia Day Council. Starting in 1968, the official award had long had links to the Victorian Australia Day Council, and at the time a public perception arose that it was state-based. As a national newspaper, The Australian felt it was better situated to create an award that more truly represented all of Australia.[68] Nominees are suggested by readers, decided upon by an editorial board, and awarded in January of every year.[69]
Circulation[edit]
In the June quarter of 2013, the average print circulation for The Australian on weekdays was 116,655, and 254,891 for The Weekend Australian. Both were down (9.8 and 10.8%, respectively) compared to the June quarter the previous year.[70]
As of March 2015, the weekday edition circulation was 104,165 and the weekend edition was 230,182, falling 6.5% and 3.3%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2014. The Australian had 67,561 paid digital subscribers in the same period.[71]
As of August 2015, according to third-party web analytics providers Alexa and SimilarWeb, The Australian's website was the 72nd- and 223rd-most visited websites in Australia, respectively.[72][73] SimilarWeb rates the site as the 23rd-most visited news website in Australia, attracting almost 3 million visitors per month.[73][74]
In September 2018, according to Roy Morgan Research, The Australian had a readership of 303,000.[75]
In September 2019, Roy Morgan reported figures of 843,000 (Sep 2018 – 810,000) for the print version (total, weekend, and weekday editions); digital versions 1,903, 000 (Sep 2018 – 1,812,000); total cross-platform 2,394,000 (Sep 2018 – 2,503,000); down 4.4%. (By way of comparison, The Sydney Morning Herald total figure was 4,209,000; The Age (Melbourne) 2,852,000, Herald Sun (Melbourne) 2,801,000. The only other nationally distributed daily newspaper, the business-focused Australian Financial Review, had 1,599,000 cross-platform readers (up 17.7%).)[4]
The paper has won Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association awards on several occasions:
Several journalists writing for The Australian have received Walkley awards for their investigative reporting.