Fairfax Media focus on independent, quality journalism positioning in new campaign

Good to see there’s not a single fare evader pretending they use public transport.
And better still, no politicians affirming they’re in each other’s pockets

Quality journalism? This is the same paper that posted the photograph of an innocent young man wrongly identified by them as terror suspect Abdul Numan Haider. The fact checking at Fairfax is almost non-existent.

nicely executed — but the claim that their journalism is all about quality, fairness and accuracy is somewhat undermined by all the mistakes appearing throughout their publications these days (including the recent shocker when they published the photo of an innocent man and labelled him a terrorist). If Fairfax were truly committed to quality, fairness and accuracy, they wouldn’t have fired swathes of sub-editors and/or outsourced that function. As they say, behind every great reporter is an equally great sub.

@Reader Lets face it though, Fairfax still beats the daylights out of News Ltd’s splurge, especially where it matters; in a digital format.

Our Readers ….. ” they don’t want to be told what to think ” …… ” having no agenda ”
Are you kidding me ? this must be Peter Fitzsimons Joke of the Week . And it’s the funniest one so far this year !

Easy to say. Hard (and expensive) to do…not to mention the current culture in journalism which frankly, doesn’t seem to value ethics quite as highly as it once did.

There was a time when Fairfax had so many really good reporters that they could not possibly run a star campaign like this. In fact this one reminds me of The Age campaign when Hywood was boss. And that was when the talent had drained out of that newspaper. Spin, really.

Kate McClymot, rest assured you WILL be remembered that way. Keep up your great work exposing the insidious creep of lobbyists and business into politics and the public purse. Also don’t stop chasing the bastards once they have left politics. The dumb politicians took the cash up front. The really sneaky ones cash-in once they have left politics. AWH anyone?

Lipstick on a pig.

The only two SMH journalists on this list who carry weight are Kate McClymont and Adele Ferguson who at least put crooks and spivs on notice. The rest give opinions – in Peter Fitzsimons’ case endless opinions on anything and everything – or like Anthony Dennis take never-ending subsidized trips around the world and write nice stories about where he’s just back from or like Terry Durack eat lots of meals in trendy restaurants, none of which ever appear to be crap. Wow, what fearless journalism..

Quality journalism? Fair and balanced? Peter Fitzsimons? What?

Kate McLymont is a quality journalist – even if you don’t always agree with her angle. But very lonely by that description in Fairfax. As for the other names – this just proves that unintentional comedy abounds in the Land of the Luvvies!

You really have to wonder how bad things are when you have start making videos such as these.

First, why is paying your own way to write a restaurant review a source of pride? Is it because the rest of your reviewers – especially those who do your ridiculous “flight checks” – don’t? Am I wrong in noting that the reviews are always good when the tickets are “courtesy” of an airline? Can I also mention the endless hotel reviews that revel in a hotel spa’s luxuriousness, but that are merely press releases for hotel and tourism groups? Really, Fairfax, you have nothing to be proud of in this regard.

Second, is there a reason that there’s not a single non-Anglo face in these ads? Is that because Fairfax is so absolutely unrepresentative of the country which it supposedly serves so fearlessly? Is there any diversity in the club at all?

Third, do we really care how Kate McClymot wants to be remembered? Is that even relevant, except to remind us how Fairfax continuously tries to turn its journalists into celebrities? Or is it because Kate is one of two or three journalists who will, actually, be remembered?

Fourth, can Fairfax really claim their greatness after a quick look at their poorly designed, badly edited and executed news websites? In which it’s almost impossible to find news within the click-bait? I didn’t even know who Lara Bingle was until I read the Herald.

Fifth, is there a reason – in this day and age of the internet – to be reprinting (edited) articles that have already appeared in the New York Times (or the ultra-conservative UK Telegraph, for God’s sake)? Or is it because you’ve cut so many newsroom jobs that there’s no one left locally to fill the pages?

By any world standard, Fairfax is a sad facsimile a news organisation, mostly focused on tabloid stories, and endless opinion from mediocre columnists. It’s going to take much, much more than a PR video to change that.

^ Oh Sam, take a breath. The Sydney Morning Herald is the most popular cross-platform masthead in the country. It beats the Tele by more than a million readers according to both EMMA and Nielsen metrics. The Australian has a fraction of the readers. Clearly, there are plenty of people out there who appreciate Fairfax! And I’m certainly one of them!

TheFacts: obvious where you work. And what you might have not understood is that Sam and me and many others never considered The Australian. Because it was never an option. What is making us furious is the dreadful management of Fairfax and the decline of its standards. These used to be an important part of our lives – SMH, The Age, AFR. Now they are crap. Even the AFR has collapsed into rhetoric and farce (unions, unions, unions and LUNCH, LUNCH, LUNCH), while McClymont is really the last one standing in either of The Age or SMH.
The facts are that regardless of the digital impacts, Fairfax has allowed its product to become very poor.