News Corp loses the Victorian election and brings into focus the role of its newspapers

The story bouncing around Twitter today via some commentators is the failure of News Corp, and in particular The Herald Sun to win the Victorian state election.

Jonathan Green shared this image of front pages:

Nice try. pic.twitter.com/S6RfkHcTAL

— jonathan green (@GreenJ) November 26, 2022

Barry Cassidy made this point:

The Herald Sun has never gone as hard against Labor as they did in this election. Relentless propaganda. But they didn’t turn a vote. Those days are gone. https://t.co/fJ9Oa2uxEx

— Barrie Cassidy (@barriecassidy) November 26, 2022

Then there is this from Emily Webb:

I’m watching Ch 7 coverage and panel talking about that despite all the conspiracy theories around the Premier, they really had no influence on the vote. Steve Bracks just said direct to camera “Herald Sun you have absolutely no influence” #VicVotes2022

— Emily Webb (@emilybwebb) November 26, 2022

And this from a former respected Herald Sun journalist Rohan Connolly:

Big shout out to Herald-Sun editor Sam Weir & political reporters Shannon Deery @s_deery & Matt Johnston @Media_Matt, who organised or penned 100s of hatchet jobs on ALP & Dan Andrews over last 4yrs for no return. See now just how little influence you have, guys? #VicVotes2022

— Rohan Connolly (@rohan_connolly) November 26, 2022

For those outside Victoria, these observations from journalist Neil McMahon may assist:

Lot of bagging of the Herald Sun today (🙋‍♂️) but this very distorted perception outside Victoria of the level of anti-Andrews sentiment was a national perception. Memo to rest of Australia: the Herald Sun and Sky After Dark are not any barometer of public opinion here. #VicVotes22

— Neil McMahon (@NeilMcMahon) November 26, 2022

And in terms of what happened and why, this piece by Patricia Karvelas is well worth reading:

My analysis on what the #vicvotes election means
We heard a lot of anger at Dan Andrews, but quiet voters had a much louder message #auspol https://t.co/3J1S40SZ7A

— Patricia Karvelas (@PatsKarvelas) November 26, 2022

Given the election results, there would have to be people at News Corp.thinking about their business and what needs to change since their considerable investment in this election has failed. If the company does not change its output focus, I suspect product purchases will continue to decline.

No matter what your politics, any post election assessment needs to consider the extent of the failure of News Corp to cut through. A newspaper not cutting through is a newspaper with a problem.

One answer for News Corp is that they go back to journalism, and leave their political lobbying and their donation of free advertising to others – they should go into the vaults and check out pre-Murdoch copies of The Sun and The Herald and see what made those newspapers great, and trusted. They should go back to fact-based journalism.  And, they could cancel the contracts of all opinion writers.

But maybe there is money in what they do. If there is, they will stick to what they have done for years. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I doubt there is money in their yelling at people, being a propaganda pamphlet rather than a news outlet.

The Victorian election result reflects damage on the News Corp brands in this state. I suspect it will cost some sales. It will be interesting to see if the damage is sufficient to negative impact ad revenue. negatively impacting ad revenue is something that would catch the attention of those making the decisions on the on what and how they cover politics here. And it is at this end, the commercial end, where the decisions of News Corp. play out for newsagents.

I do not expect to read any analysis in their pages about the considerable failure News Corp. as a company suffered yesterday in Victoria.

Footnote: What I have written here about News Corp and The Herald Sun I could also write about Neil Mitchell at 3AW. The few times I listened in it was biased commentary, not fact-based. The election result bust be seen as a Neil Mitchell failure, too.