Australia: Fairfax launches paperless paper in Brisbane
After originally quashing talks about launching a Brisbane paper, and just a week after News Limited launched free afternoon tabloid mX, Fairfax just unveiled a new online-only Brisbane edition. Mike van Niekerk, Editor-in-Chief Online for Fairfax Media, gave the Editors Weblog an exclusive taste of the new venture, www.brisbanetimes.com.au.
In December, Fairfax Media chief executive David Kirk had said that "we do not have plans in the short or even medium term to launch a new newspaper in south-east Queensland."
"We would be going up against an established incumbent in a mature market."
Well, Fairfax Media just launched a new paperless edition in Brisbane, Queensland’s most dynamic urban center.
“Brisbane is the fastest-growing market in Australia,” said van Niekerk.
The Brisbane Times will carry much of the traditional content of a general news daily (international news, entertainment, sports…) with an added focus on community and local breaking news.
Content for the paper will come in part from Fairfax’s news network, including its two quality broadsheets (including The Sydney Morning Herald) and online sources (such as The Age).
The paper will feature celebrity gossip alongside quality content, said van Niekerk. “It still needs the basic skills of quality professional journalism,” he added. The Brisbane Times will also place increasing importance on user-generated content, hoping to reproduce the success Fairfax had in Melbourne and Sydney. “We’re hoping people will send us tip-offs, great pictures, and more,” said van Niekerk.
Interestingly, Fairfax deemed it “a better bet nowadays to go for an online newspaper” in an already crowded market, said van Niekerk. Fairfax plans to use its leading position in online news in Australia and consolidate it in the Queensland area.
The Brisbane Times staff, though initially small (14), is composed of a team of young journalists with multimedia experience, who will be able to work different tasks across platforms throughout the day. All reporters are equipped with a PDA mobile, which offers them the full range of technology to take pictures, write stories and wire them from anywhere.
The Brisbane Times also launched a “terrific market campaign,” said van Niekerk. Admittedly, it sounds enticing: every person who makes www.brisbanetimes.com.au his or her homepage, and mentions the paper to three friends (monitored by an electronic form to send to friends), can enter a chance to win a free trip to space.
News Limited, Fairfax’s rival, reacted swiftly, even prior to the Times’ launch. It launched a new tabloid aimed at a younger audience a week early, no doubt in preparation for the Times’ arrival. News Limited also revamped the online edition of its Brisbane paper, the Courier Mail.
“mX is more than a commuter newspaper, it is a newspaper for young Brisbanites who work hard, have active social lives and want to know what's going on in their city and the world. It is a challenge for newspapers worldwide to attract new readers, especially young readers,” said Neil Melloy, editor of mX Brisbane.
The mX Brisbane is a 28-page publication with a launch distribution of 40,000 copies. On a national scale, this makes mX Australia’s third largest daily, with a circulation of over 250,000.
“People in Queensland have been looking for an alternative media for some time,” said van Niekerk, referring to News Limited’s previous monopoly. “This is a brave thing to do, and it’s brand-spanking new.”
Source: Mike van Niekerk – TheAge – Courier Mail
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It seems that a lot of print magazines, newspapers, and even books are going to an online format. There are a couple of reasons for this, one of which is cost, pure and simple, but the other has a lot to do with reaching a wider audience worldwide. It is one thing if you can get a circulation and readership of a couple hundred thousand with a print newspaper, but, if by merely putting that paper online you increase your readership ten fold at a lesser cost of production, then why not go to an online version. Just a few years ago it seemed that online publications didn’t have the esteem or respect of printed publications, but gradually that view is changing and I don’t think it will be very long at all before we see a whole lot more publications streamlining their printed versions and expanding their online versions. Besides being cost efficient it is also good business practice.
Personally, one of the biggest weaknesses of intranet-based communications (also known as online publications) is that people don’t read online publications. It’s hard on the eyes, they don’t go to the intranet to read, and surfing through a corporate publication online is like talking to an accountant. Because of the problems with reading stories online, most campus online publications serve as complements to the print version, rather than stand-alone entities.
Now here’s my question: Given the fact that online newspapers are supposed to attract huge numbers of readers and ad consumers, why is it that almost all of them are examples of the worst the web has to offer in the way of readability, design, layout, usability and information architecture?
"Almost all of them are examples of the worst the web has to offer in the way of readability, design, layout, usability and information architecture" because almost all of them either aren't taking the web seriously or aren't employing the people who can really make it sing.
As someone who works in the online section of a paper, the argument against radical change is its ability to make money. The tried and tested method of print advertising dollars is comfortable and safe for newspapers. Taking risks with imaginative and brilliant online content is neither comfortable nor safe for the old guard.
And rightly so, online advertising is the only thing that's going to pay, just as print advertising is the only thing that pays, and at the moment there's not enough dollars in online advertising for the number counters to consider it a 'safe bet'. I don't like it, but I think that's the answer to your question, for now.
why do i have to pay US price for a paper that is printed in Canada?