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Old 27th Jul 2018, 08:33
  #524 (permalink)  
V-Jet
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: S33E151
Posts: 1,086
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I watched ‘The Drum’ last night for the very first time ever (because the TV was on) and was struck with the insight of Andrew Jaspan. I’m 100% certain I’d disagree with his politics and he’s no doubt never actually employed people himself, but I could not help but see the similarities to Qf in his comments. Can anyone imagine a current or ex Chief Pilot saying similar???

Why is it the media is so easy to bribe in matters of QF (G/A?) and yet have people in their midst who do actually have insight?

Gerard Henderson’s piece in the Oz today could have intersposed Andrew Jaspers comments for ‘most anyone’ working for Qf proper:
FAIRFAX MEDIA’S DEATH FOLLOWED CONTEMPT FOR ITS TRADITIONAL BASE

It’s just five years since MUP published Colleen Ryan’s Fairfax: The Rise and Fall. This seemed a somewhat presumptuous proposition at the time. But yesterday the death of Fairfax Media became a reality.

There are many and varied reasons for the demise of a media company early in the 21st century — primarily, of course, the decline of advertising in its traditional forms.

But perhaps the unfashionable point is that, years ago, the likes of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age lost contact with their base. Traditionally both newspapers sold well in Coalition voting areas in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne as well as in rural and regional areas of NSW and Victoria respectively.

The problem was that in recent decades Fairfax Media’s proprietors allowed left-wing journalists to attack the company’s base of support. Namely Coalition voters, social conservatives who were Christian and sent their children to non-government schools — along with businesses that were big, medium and small. In short, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age ran stories that demeaned the actions and beliefs of their readership and advertising base. At times, The Age in particular read a bit like the Green Left Weekly.

On the ABC TV’s The Drum last night, one-time Age editor Andrew Jaspan conceded that, unlike News Corp, Fairfax Media did not really know what it was about. Rupert Murdoch is sometimes accused of being tribal — but at least he has a tribe. Mr Jaspan identified Fairfax Media’s lack of direction — but failed to recognise that when Age editor between 2004 and 2008 he was part of the problem.

There is diversity in News Corp’s media outlets — including Fox News in the United States. But News Corp journalists do not spend their days and nights beating-up on the activities and views of readers and viewers who buy its product by purchasing newspapers in print or online or who pay for subscription viewing.

The death of a media company is invariably sad. But the fact is that Fairfax Media mastheads lost contact with their traditional supporters many years ago. And, in time, the inevitable happened.

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