An article in the Australian Financial Review on Monday foreshadowed major changes at Fairfax, especially for The Age and the The Sydney Morning Herald. While the next announcements are expected to be more about editorial than distribution, it has been suggested to me that a distribution review could lead to a shake up in the model.
The issue, as always, is about cost. The cost of landing a newspaper on a subscriber’s lawn is considerable. It is natural that publishers are looking for ways to cut distribution costs.
Mark,
This topic has been going aroun for some time now News Ltd through nationwide in NSW and the respective bodies in each State have invited all and sundry to produce a “blank” paper on a new and more cost effective home delivery system.
It is no secret, (one you publicise here on the blog often) that electronic media is accentuating and print is in some decline. Cost can be absorbed in ceasing transportation (distribution) to areas outside of Sydney or Capital City destinations.
This would require the content to be electronically forwarded to their respective provincial newspapers in the appropriate Town or Country City. Ther are logistic and cost problems with this that are now being worked at.
We need to accept that Print Medai in the COUNTRY is very profitable and highly sought as a media option however it i about “quality” circulation and not necessarily “quantitive” arrangements.
Country folk in the main are reliant on their own Town’s economy and the reference to local “news” whether it be radio or print media (televison is too regional for immediate economy) is paramount to their livelyhood.
I would suggest that the review is needed but imperative that the newsagents are invited to participate. News Limited have already launched this project and set dates and id State and the ANF Associations have responded- Participation is starting now with individual newsagents being invited to contribute.
I recall that some years ago you wrote a thesis on a new distribution model, I may be wrong here, however if I am not perhaps you could forward it to the Association of your choice for consideration or actually present it to them.
Whatever, it would be a constructive help for all newsagents in this challenging task.
Graeme I will publish it here again. VANA and the ANF both have it. At the core of my suggestion was the formation of a series of newsagent owned co-operatives to leverage economies of scale and enable a lower cost per newspaper delivered to be achieved.
The proposal was a dud because it went nowhere.
On the Fairfax changes, my understanding they are quite different to what you write about.
Well why not spell it out Why hide the agenda as you know it?
because its so secret no one knows about it at all.
Proactive:Why didn’t I think of that? Mark you wrote about ” The cost of landing a newspaper on a subscribers lawn is considerable”
If that’s not about distribution and what I wrote about you should be in politics for that’s one hell of a spin to me. I answered that part of your blog no more no less.
Graeme, as I understand it, the changes are quite different to what you write about.
Fax: 92883843
Attn: John Hartigan, CEO News Ltd
Dear Mr Hartigan,
or whoever in charge of ciruculation, if there is any,
As owner of North Turramurra Newsagency I am writing to complain about the late arrivals of Limited News’ publications to our shop, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.
Due to some inexplicable alignment of stars, we happen to be at the butt end of your delivery run therefore we are always the last to receive your papers on your already late run. This morning the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Pravda of the Liberal Party arrived at 5:30!! Yesterday the Daily Telegraph the Daily Pravda of the Liberal Party and the Australian the Australian Press Release of the Liberal Party got here not much earlier.
How on earth are we supposed to manage the three hour long delivery run, let happy customers read their Sunday Telegraph Sunday Pravda of the Liberal Party while having breakfast when they get the papers at Lunch Time ! Who is gonna pay for the extra time and extra petrol of our delivery drivers?
Who is gonna tell my tearful 5 year old daughter, all dressed up for her 9am non-refundable dancing lesson “oh, honey, you can’t go dancing today, because daddy has taken the only family car to deliver Liberal Party propaganda” “why? Honey, this is a long story. Long long ago, in a far far way kingdom called Adelaide, a prince was born and he grew up to run his billion dollar empire named Limited News. What is Limited News? Oh, honey, it is called Limited News because apparently the editors and reporters there have only limited skills and they can only write stories which are biased, unfair, unbalanced, one sided and corresponding only to their inner beliefs that only the Liberal Party is entitled to govern and we should hold election again and again and again until we get the result right. But how is it related to your dancing lessons? Sorry honey I got carried away. Though their ability to report straight news is limited, their talent for making money (and breaching NRL salary cap) is not. They have billion dollar profit and they want more. How? By squeezing every penny possible. By laying off truck drivers and having insufficient resources to distribute their papers. What can I do? Honey I can write Mr Hartigan a nice letter and ask him to take a 1 per cent pay cut from his million dollar salary and hire an extra god damn truck driver!! Oh if he can’t find anyone willing to do that job at 3am in the morning maybe just he should get off his fat ass and drive a truck to deliver himself!”
Well I maybe exaggerate a bit in the above paragraph but then as supreme Ayatollah of tabloid journalism you guys should just take it as a compliment.
Regards,
Yesterday, our GCBs arrived at 06:17.
We open at 06:30.
Still no explanation.
We aren’t logistically at the bum end, but somehow we keep finding ourselves there anyway.
Oh, and do expect an angry phonecall for making your correspondence public.
You Rock!