The West Australian

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The West Australian
The West Australian
Type Daily newspaper
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) Seven West Media
Editor Brett McCarthy
Founded 5 January 1833
Political alignment Centre-right [1]
Headquarters 50 Hasler Road,
Osborne Park, Western Australia
ISSN 0312-6323
Website www.thewest.com.au

The West Australian, widely known as The West (Saturday edition: The Weekend West) is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by Seven West Media.[2] The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Corp[3] publication. It is the second-oldest continuously produced newspaper in Australia, having been published since 1833. The West has strong conservative leanings, and has consistently supported the Coalition.[4]

Audience

As of January 2015, refraining from reporting greatly reduced print circulation, the paper claimed "readership across print and online platforms" of 1.8 million per month[5] (a daily average of less than 70,000). Online readership is limited by requirement of paid subscription ($10 per week or $520 p.a.)[6] According to Roy Morgan Research, total cross-platform readership is less than 50,000 daily, having declined 4.5% in the year to September 2014.[7]

The Saturday edition was rebranded as The Weekend West in October 2010.[8] There is an enlarged classified-advertising section for motor vehicles each Wednesday.

A digital archive subscription enables past editions to be accessed for $220 per month or $2,200 per year.[9]

Content

The newspaper publishes international, national and local news. As of 23 February 2015, newsgathering has been integrated with the TV news and current-affairs operations of Seven News, Perth, which moved its news staff to the paper's Osborne Park premises. A "breaking news" and video news website are also staffed in the same area, together with sales and other departments.[10][11]

In the 1990s, the newspaper introduced a weekly "Earth 2000" segment on environmental matters and an "Asia Desk" feature covering events mainly in South East Asia.

Opinion columnists now include Zoltan Kovacs, Paul Murray and a variety of writers syndicated from Fairfax Media including Gerard Henderson, Danny Katz and Brian Toohey .

The paper publishes a supplement titled WestWeekend Magazine which is included as an insert in The Weekend West.

Corporate ownership

The West used this Fokker 27 in the mid-1990s to deliver its newspapers on a nightly flight from Perth to the north of Western Australia
Clock on the former premises, Newspaper House, St Georges Terrace

The West Australian was owned by the publicly listed company West Australian Newspapers Ltd from the 1920s. In 1969, the Melbourne-based The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd bought WAN and published the paper until 1987 when it was sold to Robert Holmes à Court's Bell Group in 1987 when the remainder of H&WT was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.[12] The following year Alan Bond, through Bond Corporation, gained control of Bell Group and hence the paper. This ownership structure only survived for a few years until the collapse of Bond Corporation. A newly formed company, West Australian Newspapers Holdings, then purchased the paper from the receivers before being floated in an oversubscribed $185 million public offering.[13] Chairman Trevor Eastwood announced in the annual report that the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: SWM) on 9 January 1992. A management fee of $217,000 and underwriting/brokers handling fee of $1,981,136 were paid to companies associated with former short-term directors John Poynton and J. H. Nickson.[14] After having acquired Seven Media Group in February 2011, West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited became Seven West Media, Australia's largest diversified media business.[15]

History

Masthead from the Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, published Saturday 1 June 1833.

The West Australian traces its origins to The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, the first edition of which appeared on 5 January 1833. Owned and edited by Perth postmaster Charles Macfaull, it was originally a four-page weekly.[16] It was, at first, published on Saturdays, but changed to Fridays in 1864. From 7 October 1864 it was known as the The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Times and was published by Arthur Shenton, until 24 March 1871, after which the publisher was Joseph Mitchell, until 29 September 1871. The new publisher, M. Shenton, remained in place until 26 June 1874. when it was bought by a syndicate who renamed it The Western Australian Times and who in September 1874 increased production to two editions a week. On 18 November 1879, it was relaunched as The West Australian.[17] In October 1883, production was increased to three editions per week; two years later it became a daily publication. The proprietors of the West Australian at that time also inaugurated the Western Mail, in 1885. Initially, delivery of the paper beyond settled areas was problematic, but the growth and development of the rural railway system in the early 1900s facilitated wider circulation.

Locations

Newspaper House, the former office and publishing plant of The West on St Georges Terrace, across the road from the Palace Hotel, was a prominent landmark in the life of the city and state for over 50 years.[18] It was vacated in the mid-1980s for the ill-fated "Westralia Square" redevelopment which was completed in 2012 under the name Brookfield Place.[19] The editorial staff was temporarily relocated in a nearby office building. Recognised as part of an important heritage precinct,[20] Newspaper House was scheduled for preservation and refurbishment. In 1988, larger and more modern accommodation for the paper's printing presses was commissioned in Osborne Park.[21] Ten years later, the editorial operations also moved to the Osborne Park complex.[13]

Editors

  • 1833–1846 Charles Macfaull[22]
  • 1847–1871 Arthur Shenton[22]
  • 1871–1874 Mercy Shenton
  • 1874–1879 Rev. C. G. Nicolay and John Rowland Jones; Henry Hullock
  • 1879–1887 Sir Thomas Cockburn-Campbell[22]
  • 1887–1916 John Winthrop Hackett[22]
  • 1916–1927 Alfred Langler
  • 1927–1951 Charles Patrick Smith
  • 1951–1956 James Edward Macartney
  • 1956–1972 W. T. G. (William Thomas Griffith) "Griff" Richards
  • 1972-1972 F. B. (Fred) Morony
  • 1972–1983 M. C. (Bon) Uren
  • 1983–1987 D. B. (Don) Smith
  • 1987–1988 R. E. (Bob) Cronin
  • 1988–1990 Don Baker
  • 1990–2000 Paul Murray
  • 2000–2003 Brian Rogers
  • 2003–2008 Paul Armstrong[23]
  • 2008–2009 R. E. (Bob) Cronin[23]
  • 2009–present Brett McCarthy[24]

Controversies

The paper was labelled in February 2005 by former prime minister Bob Hawke as "a disgrace to reasonable objective journalism".[25] Academic Peter van Onselen substantiated this attack, identifying 10 pro-Opposition front page headlines in the leadup to the 2005 state election, but no pro-Government headlines.[26]

In May 2007, then attorney-general and health minister Jim McGinty described the newspaper as "the nation's most inaccurate and dishonest newspaper". He went on to attack the editor, Paul Armstrong, saying that "the board of West Australian Newspapers needs to sack the editor. It is personally driven by a particular individual". Armstrong responded by saying he "could not give a fat rat's arse" about Mr McGinty's comments[27] and was then virulently attacked by premier Alan Carpenter[28] whose government the paper continued to denigrate until its defeat at the 2008 election.

On 8 December 2014, The management of West Australian Newspapers announced that printed editions of the newspaper would no longer be available via retail outlets to readers located north of Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia including towns such as Derby, (Western Australia), Fitzroy Crossing, Wyndham and Kununurra due to the expensive cost of transporting and delivering printed newspapers in the towns north of Broome.[29]

Notable present and past employees

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Seven West Media Limited (SWM) at Australian Securities Exchange
  3. ↑ News Corp (NWS) at Australian Securities Exchange
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Rate Card 2014-2015 at official website. Accessed 3 January 2015
  6. ↑ Choose your subscription at official website. Accessed 3 January 2015
  7. ↑ Newspaper Cross-Platform Audience, 12 months to September 2014 at Roy Morgan Research. Accessed 3 January 2015
  8. ↑ Varley, Melinda "West Australian rebrands weekend masthead" B&T magazine, 21 October 2010
  9. ↑ Corporate and Personal Subscription to Archive Digital Editions at the official website
  10. ↑ Hatch, Daniel. "Two teams now one in new era for journalism", WestBusiness, The West Australian", 27 February 2015, p 68
  11. ↑ Mumford, Will WAN, Seven Perth combine for integrated newsroom The Newspaper Works, 27 August 2014. Accessed 27 February 2015
  12. ↑ Bond, Bell and Holmes a Court:Bell at Ketupa.net media industry reference
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 175 years of The West Australian
  14. ↑ West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited Annual Report, 1992, p 33
  15. ↑ West Australian Newspapers to buy Seven Media at MarketWatch, 20 February 2011
  16. ↑ The West Australian, 17 November 1979, p.39
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Newspaper House, home of The West Australian (picture) at State Library of Western Australia online catalogue. Retrieved 10 December 2012
  19. ↑ Brookfield Place (City Square) at Brookfield Multiplex official site, 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2012
  20. ↑ Heritage Council report
  21. ↑ Newspaper House – building in Perth to be vacated by the West Australian from March 1988, photographs and reminiscences Newspaper House news, March 1988, p.1+
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 175 years of the West Australian at Australian-Media.com.au
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Chris Thomson West Australian editor Armstrong shunted The Age BusinessDay 16 December 2008
  24. ↑ Nick Perpitch Brett McCarthy goes from Sunday to weekdays at The West Australian The Australian 16 March 2009 Archived 14 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Gold Walkley Honour Roll at Walkley Foundation

Further reading

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • (1933) West Australian – history of the newspaper, printing techniques and building (Photographs first used in The West Australian on 10 May 1910) West Australian, 5 January 1933, Centenary issue, p. 3,8e,21d
  • Western Australian Newspapers: Landmarks at Ketupa.net

External links

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