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''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in Britis ...
newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and "the most widely-read masthead in the country." The newspaper is published in compact print form from Monday to Saturday as ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and on Sunday as its sister newspaper, '' The Sun-Herald'' and digitally as an online site and app, seven days a week. It is considered a newspaper of record for Australia. The print edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regional New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.


Overview

''The Sydney Morning Herald'' publishes a variety of supplements, including the magazines ''Good Weekend'' (included in the Saturday edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald''); and ''Sunday Life''. There are a variety of lift-outs, some of them co-branded with online classified-advertising sites: * ''The Guide'' (television) on Mondays * ''Good Food'' (food) and ''Domain'' (real estate) on Tuesdays * ''Money'' (personal finance) on Wednesdays * ''Drive'' (motoring), ''Shortlist'' (entertainment) on Fridays * ''News Review'', ''Spectrum'' (arts and entertainment guide), ''Domain'' (real estate), ''Drive'' (motoring) and ''MyCareer'' (employment) on Saturdays The executive editor is James Chessell and the editor is Bevan Shields. Tory Maguire is national editor, Monique Farmer is life editor, and the publisher is chief digital and publishing officer Chris Janz. Former editors include Darren Goodsir, Judith Whelan, Sean Aylmer, Peter Fray, Meryl Constance, Amanda Wilson (the first female editor, appointed in 2011),
William Curnow William Curnow (1832 – 14 October 1903) was a Cornish Australian journalist, and Methodist minister, and was editor of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' for 15 years. Early life Curnow was baptised on 2 December 1832 at St Ives, Cornwall, Unite ...
, Andrew Garran, Frederick William Ward (editor from 1884 to 1890), Charles Brunsdon Fletcher, Colin Bingham, Max Prisk, John Alexander, Paul McGeough, Alan Revell, Alan Oakley, and Lisa Davies.


History

''The Sydney Herald'' was founded in 1831 by three employees of the now-defunct '' Sydney Gazette'': Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes, and William McGarvie. A Centenary Supplement (since digitised) was published in 1931. The original four-page weekly had a print run of 750. The newspaper began to publish daily in 1840, and the operation was purchased in 1841 by an Englishman named John Fairfax who renamed it ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' the following year. Fairfax, whose family were to control the newspaper for almost 150 years, based his editorial policies "upon principles of candour, honesty and honour. We have no wish to mislead; no interest to gratify by unsparing abuse or indiscriminate approbation." Donald Murray, who invented a predecessor of the teleprinter, worked at the ''Herald'' during the 1890s.New Zealand’s Donald Murray: The Father of the Remote Typewriter
Australian Typewriter Museum, Canberra, 9 March 2012; accessed 10 March 2012
A weekly "Page for Women" was added in 1905, edited by
Theodosia Ada Wallace Theodosia Ada Wallace (18 August 1872 – 1 October 1953) was an Australian journalist. The daughter of Alexander Britton and Ada Willoughby, both natives of England, she was born Theodosia Ada Britton in Jolimont, East Melbourne. The fami ...
. The ''SMH'' was late to the trend of printing news rather than just advertising on the front page, doing so from 15 April 1944. Of the country's metropolitan dailies, only '' The West Australian'' was later in making the switch. The newspaper launched a Sunday edition, ''The Sunday Herald'', in 1949. Four years later, this was merged with the newly acquired ''Sun'' newspaper to create ''The Sun-Herald'', which continues to this day. By the mid-1960s, a new competitor had appeared in Rupert Murdoch's national daily '' The Australian,'' which was first published on 15 July 1964. John Fairfax & Sons Limited commemorated the Herald's 150th anniversary in 1981 by presenting the City of Sydney with Stephen Walker's sculpture, ''Tank Stream Fountain''. In 1995, the company launched the newspaper's web edition ''smh.com.au''. The site has since grown to include interactive and multimedia features beyond the content in the print edition. Around the same time, the organisation moved from Jones Street to new offices at Darling Park and built a new printing press at
Chullora Chullora, a suburb in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Greater Western Sydney region. Th ...
, in the city's west. The ''SMH'' later moved with other Sydney Fairfax divisions to a building at Darling Island. In May 2007, Fairfax Media announced it would be moving from a broadsheet format to the smaller
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in Britis ...
or tabloid-size, in the footsteps of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'', for both ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and ''The Age''. After abandoning these plans later in the year, Fairfax Media again announced in June 2012 its plan to shift both broadsheet newspapers to tabloid size, with effect from March 2013. Fairfax also announced it would cut staff across the entire group by 1,900 over three years and erect paywalls around the papers' websites. The subscription type was to be a freemium model, limiting readers to a number of free stories per month, with a payment required for further access. The announcement was part of an overall "digital first" strategy of increasingly digital or
on-line In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...
content over printed delivery, to "increase sharing of editorial content," and to assist the management's wish for "full integration of its online, print and mobile platforms." It was announced in July 2013 that the ''SMH'' news director, Darren Goodsir, would become editor-in-chief, replacing Sean Aylmer. On 22 February 2014, the Saturday edition was produced in broadsheet format for the final time, with this too converted to compact format on 1 March 2014, ahead of the decommissioning of the printing plant at Chullora in June 2014. In June 2022, the paper received global coverage and backlash to an attempted outing of Australian actress Rebel Wilson by columnist Andrew Hornery, and the subsequent defense of his since-deleted column by editor Bevan Shields; Wilson preempted the Hornery disclosure with an Instagram post confirming her relationship.


Editorial stance

The newspaper's editorial stance was generally centrist but has more recently become right wing. According to one commentator it is seen as the most centrist among the three major Australian non-tabloids (the other two being ''The Australian'' and ''The Age'').Andrea L. Everett, ''Humanitarian Hypocrisy: Civilian Protection and the Design of Peace Operations'' (Cornell University Press, 2017), p. 253: "''SMH'' ... is also generally seen as the most politically centrist of the three largest-circulation non-tabloid newspaper n Australia ''SMH'', the ''Australian'', and the ''Age'')." In 2004, the newspaper's editorial page stated: "
market libertarianism Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
and social liberalism" were the two "broad themes" that guided the ''Herald''s editorial stance. During the 1999 referendum on whether Australia should become a republic, the ''Herald'' (like the other two major papers) strongly supported a "yes" vote. ''The'' ''Sydney Morning Herald'' did not endorse the Labor Party for federal office in the first six decades of Federation, always endorsing a conservative government. The newspaper endorsed Labor in only seven federal elections:
1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...
( Calwell), 1984 and 1987 ( Hawke), 2007 (
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), 2010 ( Gillard),Lisa Davies
Why the Herald does editorials and why they can be controversial
''Sydney Morning Herald'' (March 27, 2019).
, 2019 ( Shorten), and 2022 ( Albanese). During the 2004 Australian federal election, the ''Herald'' did not endorse a party, but subsequently resumed its practice of making endorsements. After endorsing the Coalition at the 2013 and 2016 federal elections, the newspaper begrudgingly endorsed Bill Shorten's Labor Party in 2019, after Malcolm Turnbull was ousted as prime minister. At the state level, the ''Herald'' has consistently backed the Coalition; the only time since 1981 that it has endorsed a Labor government for New South Wales was Bob Carr's government in the 2003 election. The ''Herald'' endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.


Notable contributors


Writers

* Waleed Aly * Eliza Ashton *
Louisa Atkinson Caroline Louisa Waring Calvert (; 25 February 1834 – 28 April 1872) was an early Australian writer, botanist and illustrator. While she was well known for her fiction during her lifetime, her long-term significance rests on her botanical work ...
*
Julia Baird Julia Baird (née Dykins; born 5 March 1947) is a British retired teacher and author. She is the younger half-sister of English musician John Lennon, and is the eldest daughter of his mother Julia Lennon and John 'Bobby' Albert Dykins. She also ...
*
Lucian Boz Lucian Boz (; also rendered as Lucien Boz; November 9, 1908 – March 14, 2003) was a Romanian literary critic, essayist, novelist, poet and translator. Raised in Bucharest, he had a lawyer's training but never practiced, instead opting for a career ...
*
Mike Carlton Michael James Carlton, (born 31 January 1946) is an Australian former media commentator, radio host, television journalist, author and newspaper columnist. He formerly co-hosted the daily breakfast program on Sydney radio station 2UE with Peter ...
* Anne Davies *
Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement s ...
* Ross Gittins * Richard Glover *
Peter Hartcher Peter Hartcher is an Australian journalist and the Political and International Editor of the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. He is also a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based foreign policy think tank. Career In 1981, while a stude ...
*
Amanda Hooton Amanda Hooton is an Australian journalist and columnist and a senior writer with Good Weekend. Her work has appeared in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' and ''The Age'' "Good Weekend" Magazine is a supplement that is distributed with those newspa ...
*
Adele Horin Adele Marilyn Horin (25 January 1951 – 21 November 2015) was an Australian journalist. She retired in 2012 as a columnist and journalist for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. A prolific and polarising writer on social issues, she was described as ...
*
H. G. Kippax Harold ("Harry") Gemmell Kippax AO, better known as H. G. Kippax (6 October 192012 August 1999)
*
Amy Mack Amy Eleanor Mack (6 June 1876, Port Adelaide – 4 November 1939, Sydney), also known as Amy Eleanor Harrison and Mrs. Launcelot Harrison, was an Australian writer, journalist, and editor. She was honorary secretary of the National Council of W ...
*
Louise Mack Marie Louise Hamilton Mack (10 October 1870 – 23 November 1935) was an Australian poet, journalist and novelist. She is most known for her writings and her involvement in World War I in 1914 as the first woman war correspondent in Belgium. B ...
* Roy Masters * Anne Summers *
Kate McClymont Kathryn Anne McClymont is a journalist who writes for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. Notable for exposing corruption in politics, trade unions, sport, and horse racing, she has received death threats because of her exposés. She has won many ...


Illustrators

* Simon Letch, named as one of the year's best illustrators on four consecutive occasions.


Ownership

Fairfax went public in 1957 and grew to acquire interests in magazines, radio, and television. The group collapsed spectacularly on 11 December 1990 when
Warwick Fairfax Warwick Fairfax (born December 1960) is an Australian businessman and consultant based in the United States. He was well known in the 1990s as the media heir and business tycoon who privatised the publicly listed media company, John Fairfax Hold ...
, great-great-grandson of John Fairfax, attempted to privatize the group by borrowing $1.8 billion. The group was bought by Conrad Black before being re-listed in 1992. In 2006, Fairfax announced a merger with Rural Press, which brought in a Fairfax family member, John B. Fairfax, as a significant player in the company. From 10 December 2018 Nine and Fairfax Media merged into one business known as Nine. Nine Entertainment Co. owns ''The Sydney Morning Herald''.


Content


Column 8

Column 8 is a short column to which ''Herald'' readers send their observations of interesting happenings. It was first published on 11 January 1947. The name comes from the fact that it originally occupied the final (8th) column of the broadsheet newspaper's front page. In a front-page redesign in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, Column 8 moved to the back page of the first section from 31 July 2000. The content tends to the quirky, typically involving strange urban occurrences, instances of confusing signs (often in Engrish), word play, and discussion of more or less esoteric topics. The column is also sometimes affectionately known as Granny's Column, after a fictional grandmother who supposedly edited it. The column's original logo was a caricature of
Sydney Deamer Sydney Harold Deamer (1891-1962) was a newspaper journalist, an newspaper editor, editor and soldier. The son of Adrian Milford and Rhoda (née Milford) Deamer, Sydney Deamer was born on 1 December 1891 at Avondale Square, Old Kent Road, London. ...
, originator of the column and its author for 14 years. It was edited for 15 years by George Richards, who retired on 31 January 2004. Other editors besides Deamer and Richards have been Duncan Thompson, Bill Fitter, Col Allison, Jim Cunningham, Pat Sheil, and briefly, Peter Bowers and Lenore Nicklin. The column is, as of March 2017, edited by ''Herald'' journalist Tim Barlass, who frequently appends reader contributions with puns; and who made the decision to reduce the column's publication from its traditional six days a week, down to just weekdays.


Opinion

The ''Opinion'' section is a regular of the daily newspaper, containing opinion on a wide range of issues. Mostly concerned with relevant political, legal and cultural issues, the section presents work by regular columnists, including ''Herald'' political editor
Peter Hartcher Peter Hartcher is an Australian journalist and the Political and International Editor of the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. He is also a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based foreign policy think tank. Career In 1981, while a stude ...
, Ross Gittins, as well as occasional reader-submitted content. Iconoclastic Sydney barrister Charles C. Waterstreet, upon whose life the television workplace comedy ''
Rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...
'' is loosely based, had a regular humour column in this section.


''Good Weekend''

''Good Weekend'' is a liftout magazine that is distributed with both ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' and '' The Age'' in Saturday editions. It contains, on average, four feature articles written by its stable of writers and others syndicated from overseas as well as sections on food, wine and fashion. Writers include Stephanie Wood, Jane Cadzow, Melissa Fyfe, Tim Elliott, Konrad Marshall and Amanda Hooton. Other sections include "Modern Guru," which features humorous columnists including
Danny Katz Danny Katz (born 1963) is a Canadian-born, Jewish Australian columnist and author who writes for ''The Age'' and the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. His column was syndicated in ''The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edi ...
responding to the everyday dilemmas of readers; a regular column by writer Benjamin Law; a ''
Samurai Sudoku Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, ...
''; and "The Two of Us," containing interviews with a pair of close friends, relatives or colleagues. "Good Weekend" is edited by Katrina Strickland. Previous editors include
Ben Naparstek Ben Naparstek (born 1986) is an Australian digital media executive and former journalist. Career After graduating with degrees in Arts & Law (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, he was awarded an Owen Fellowship to study at the Johns Hopkins ...
, Judith Whelan and Fenella Souter.


Digitisation

The paper has been partially digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program project of the National Library of Australia.


See also

*
Journalism in Australia Journalism in Australia is an industry with an extensive history. Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 26th on a list of 180 countries ranked by press freedom in 2020, ahead of both the United Kingdom and United States. Print media in the ...
* List of newspapers in Australia * ''
The Sydney Mail ''The Sydney Mail'' was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. It was the weekly edition of '' The Sydney Morning Herald'' newspaper and ran from 1860 to 1938. History ''The Sydney Mail'' was first published on 17 July 1860 by ...
'' – weekly magazine of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', published from 1860 to 1938


References


Further reading

* Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. ''The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers'' (1980) pp 314–19 * Gavin Souter (1981) ''Company of Heralds: a century and a half of Australian publishing by John Fairfax Limited and its predecessors, 1831-1981'' Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, * Gavin Souter (1992) ''Heralds and angels: the house of Fairfax 1841-1992'' Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books,


External links

*
Earth Hour archive
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sydney Morning Herald 1831 establishments in Australia Australian news websites Fairfax Media Fairfax Media Newspapers published in Sydney Publications established in 1831 Daily newspapers published in Australia Newspapers on Trove Nine Entertainment