This is the second instalment of a Crikey series, Movers and Shakers.
After a year of volatility, job cuts, uncertainty and brilliance, Crikey chased down Australia’s biggest media figures — from journalists to editors to defamation lawyers to academics — to pick their brains about our industry. What they shared has formed the backbone of a multi-part Crikey series, Movers and Shakers, holding a mirror up to the industry and asking it to reflect on itself.
We emailed roughly 200 people the same eight questions and about one in four got back to us. It was an imperfect list — if we missed you, let us know for next year — but we contacted people from the following outlets: Nine’s major metropolitan mastheads as well as people in its broadcast divisions, The Australian Financial Review, Network Ten, Seven, SBS, the ABC, 2GB, Sky News Australia, Guardian Australia, the News Corp newspapers, The Conversation, Daily Mail Australia, Australian Associated Press, Apple News, Mamamia, Pedestrian and Schwartz Media.
We also included journalism academics, media lawyers and industry body executives, as well as people from smaller outlets like The Nightly, Quillette, Unmade, Capital Brief, the Koori Mail, About Time, The Daily Aus, Women’s Agenda, IndigenousX, Mumbrella, 6 News Australia and of course Crikey.
More than 50 people generously offered us their insightful, searing and sometimes cheeky thoughts on the state of the industry. In this instalment, here’s what they had to say on who survives the purge in Australian journalism and what outlets need to do to tough it out.
Who survives in Australian media?
Dave Earley, audience editor at Guardian Australia: The ABC and SBS?
Johan Lidberg, head of journalism at Monash University: ABC and SBS will survive. Australia has a particular responsibility being one of only 12-15 (depending on how you define proper financing of independent journalism) in the world with strong public service journalism. The commercial journalism sector will depend on what the government does with the NMBC [news media bargaining code] and/or tax levies on the tech platforms to fund public interest journalism. Very unclear. But there is an argument for tax/government funding of commercial public interest journalism.
Janine Perrett, journalist, broadcaster and commentator: I think Nine is best placed among the local media groups by providing an alternative to Fox/News and continuing to break stories. However, I don’t underestimate the power or hypocrisy of their rivals to undermine a vastly superior journalistic product.
Alan Kohler, founder of Eureka Report: I don’t know who survives — certainly only subscriber publications, and possibly just niche ones. Oh, and the ABC.
Kishor Napier-Raman, CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald: The lucky. The already upper middle class.
Bridie Jabour, associate editor (audio/visual) at Guardian Australia: Anyone breaking stories.
Paul Barry, former host of ABC’s Media Watch: Outfits that can sell subscriptions. That’s bad news for tabloids, who have little that’s unique to sell. Even the Daily Mail has now put up a paywall.
Ben Schneiders, reporter for ABC’s Four Corners: The outlook is pretty bleak. Among the bigger commercial players, I’d expect most if not all of free-to-air TV to be far smaller and employ far fewer journalists over the next five years. TV is facing similar structural problems that print did 15-20 years ago but is far more reliant on advertising, making its prospects worse. Among major commercial media, the old Fairfax mastheads — The Age, SMH and Financial Review — have the best prospects to survive due to now having large and successful subscription models. The Nine takeover of Fairfax was a disaster for media diversity and came just at the time the old mastheads had hit their lowest point in terms of financial viability. As they’ve recovered they now have the misfortune of being shackled to a struggling free-to-air TV business.
Kate McClymont, chief investigative reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald: Who knows? It’s concerning to see Channel Ten hanging on by a thread and sharp declines in revenue across all media platforms. Particularly troubling is the decimation of local and regional news outlets. The city-based media outlets can’t fill this role.
Eliza Sorman Nilsson, head of content at Mamamia: Publishers that don’t bury their heads in the sand, who instead take risks, experiment with formats and leverage new technologies. But most importantly the media that understands where its audience is and meets audiences where they are at. The survivors will be the publishers that focus on community and build loyal, engaged audiences rather than chase fleeting viral moments. They will be publishers that invest in talent and prioritise skilled journalists, content creators and innovative teams to ensure relevance is sustained. The survivors will also be companies that can shift from short-term vanity metrics to sustainable, value-driven goals. When you have a purpose, it makes it so much easier to serve the audience rather than dollars.
Sally Neighbour, former EP of ABC’s Four Corners and 7:30: I don’t know, but I’m not terrified by the question as I was 15 years ago. Back then, or whenever it was that disruption exploded among us, I thought mainstream media was doomed, journalism possibly too. For a while there I would have warned eager school/uni leavers against pursuing journalism as a career because it seemed there might be no future in it. I don’t feel that way at all now. Despite disruption, new media outlets and platforms have thrived. Some have thrived then failed, eg Buzzfeed and Vice. Other newcomers have flourished (so far): Guardian Australia, Crikey, Schwartz Media and others have survived and enriched our information landscape. Someone will have figured out the secret of success vs failure; not me, sorry.
Erik Jensen, CEO and editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media: Publishers that are focused on quality and that build deep relationships with their audiences. The titles that thrive are the ones that place their audience at the centre of their business.
Gabrielle Jackson, deputy editor at Guardian Australia: Who survives will be those willing to listen to young people and others who have switched off the news, to rethink how they tell stories and stay committed to fact-based reporting. Changing the way we tell stories doesn’t mean abandoning facts and basic newsgathering. Just because a young woman is talking fast on TikTok doesn’t mean it’s not serious journalism. Those who are willing to sell their journalism to the highest bidder do the profession a disservice and I can’t see them having a long-term future. We have to stop thinking about the masthead and start thinking about how we get the facts that are essential for a functional civil society to people in a way they want to hear/read/listen to them.
Nick McKenzie, investigative journalist at The Age: I feel like there will be further consolidation and belt-tightening. Smaller players such as Guardian Australia seem to have lost their mojo while bigger newsrooms are also just emerging from a rocky year. The cultural and structural reforms at Nine, the ABC and other large players will hopefully reenergise our newsrooms. Change is hard and constant. The ABC seems particularly lost at sea, but it also has some of the best reporting teams in the country. Our newsrooms have lost some really experienced and talented hands but we also have some of the best new reporters I’ve seen in years.
Waleed Aly, co-host of Network 10’s The Project: I assume the ABC survives in some form or other because its funding model is least compromised. Commercial television becomes increasingly focused on the streaming services attached to the main channels, and maybe that means the main channels cease altogether at some point. Other than that, it’s probably a series of very small operators with small budgets producing low-cost work. The main possible scenario that differs from that is that the rise of streaming and the collapse of free-to-air broadcast reaches some kind of equilibrium. Audiences stabilise at a level that keeps commercial broadcast going for another generation. This seems less likely to me, but I can imagine it.
Misha Ketchell, editor of The Conversation Australia: The survivors in Australian media are a mixed bag. Sometimes the puffed-up bullies and self-promoters have too long a reign — Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, Kyle Sandilands anyone? But there are also so many wonderful principled journalists. Michelle Grattan is a legend — rigorous, insightful and diligent, the best of the best. We are lucky to live in the era of Nick McKenzie, Kate McClymont, Michael Bachelard and colleagues, some of the best straight-out reporters I’ve ever seen. I think Neil Mitchell has been a great broadcaster in Melbourne. I’ve worked with some incredible people; Gay Alcorn, Michael Gawenda and James Button at Nine, Jo Puccini, Jonathan Holmes and Paul Barry at the ABC. You’ve got a few pretty impressive types at Crikey too. Eric Beecher has had an extraordinary career and will be celebrated as both an entrepreneur and a journalist, Sophie Black is a crack editor and Bernard Keane is a top-shelf columnist anywhere, anytime. And I have to mention Stephen Mayne, for being the original gadfly and one of the best.
Jordan Baker, chief reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald: Outlets that tell compelling, important, agenda-setting stories in an engaging way will, I think, survive. It’s our core business; it always has been and I think the commercial challenges have actually forced us to get better at it, despite fewer resources. The idea of asking people to pay for online news subscriptions once seemed to be a pipe dream — “Why would people pay for what we’ve been giving away for free?” organisations would say — and yet subscriptions to the Herald and Age are strong because our readers see the value in what we do.
Marc Fennell, presenter and journalist: Whoever has a direct financial relationship with their audience. If you are reliant on a middleman (i.e. Meta or Youtube) then your business is built on a house of cards. I lived through Facebook turning off its pipeline to video and it devastated so many people’s jobs and businesses when the “pivot to video” broke down. If you own your relationship with the audience, you are in a much stronger position.
Karen Percy, federal president at MEAA: News media agencies that are transparent and upfront about how they do their work, how they are funded, what their policies are, how they deal with complaints, and those that engage meaningfully with their audiences. Those that go beyond clickbait and make decisions about their coverage based on the public interest and the public’s right to know. Ethical, public interest journalism can still be entertaining and engaging, as well as informative. Those agencies that recognise they need to adapt and go to where the audiences are. Traditional print and broadcast absolutely still have a place, but TikTok, Instagram and the yet-to-be-revealed platforms of the future are crucial to reaching new consumers and young people. Consumption habits have changed and will continue to evolve. The outlets that adapt, innovate and experiment with technology while maintaining journalistic principles and ethics — and consulting with their workers — will be in the best position.
Louise Milligan, reporter at ABC’s Four Corners: I think those breaking public interest journalism stories will survive.
What does an outlet need to do in 2024 to grow and keep audiences?
Myriam Robin, editor of The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window: Ugh, be good? It’s never really changed!
Marc Dodd, editor of nine.com.au: It’s all about engagement.
Eric Beecher, chairman of Private Media (publisher of Crikey): Create and perpetuate trust, be transparent with your audience, declare your conflicts of interest, do honest journalism not bullshit marketing, and live with your conscience.
Lisa Davies, CEO of AAP: Be authentic. Understand who you’re writing for and serve them.
Morry Schwartz, founder of Schwartz Media: Publish only quality journalism, not just sprinkled between the dross.
Kishor Napier-Raman, CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald: This is above my pay grade.
Justin Stevens, ABC director of news: Cover the issues that matter to its audience in an impactful and engaging way, do journalism with impact, distribute it in a dynamic and agile way to ensure it reaches as many parts of the audience as possible, add value, help make sense of the complex world we live in and put humans at the centre of reporting.
Misha Ketchell, editor of The Conversation Australia: The best way to grow and keep an audience is to put your reader at the centre of everything you do. When I start work each day I think: “I’ve got eight or nine hours today, how can I spend them to best serve my readers? What do they need to know? What do they want to know? How can I find these things out for them?” The other thing would be to create some sort of virus that brings down TikTok, Instagram, X and the rest. That’d be a better world, wouldn’t it?
Marc Fennell, presenter and journalist: A direct relationship with your consumer. They need to feel connected to your masthead/brand. It needs to be a relationship built on trust and they need to feel the value in what you do. And that applies to public media (ABC & SBS) as well as commercial and subscription. The moment the audience feels no value in what you do then I fear for your long-term health.
Eliza Sorman Nilsson, head of content at Mamamia: So many ways (embracing TikTok, video, vodcasts, YouTube, affiliates, Substack, looking for new revenue models) but here are my fave two:
- Don’t just “set and forget” when it comes to content types. Always follow audience trends and evolve content. This year, we saw the closure of Jezebel. It closed for a few reasons but it’s a cautionary tale to find ways to evolve that are still key to your DNA. In its glory days, Jezebel was all about the feminist noisy opinion, but over the years the internet has gotten tired of hot takes and rage-bait. Jezebel, in my opinion, wasn’t able to find its next big play. Good reminder that absolutely nothing can stand still.
- Targeted audience growth: I think 2024/2025 will be all about personalisation. By focusing on specific reader demographics and tailoring content accordingly, outlets will be able to effectively grow their subscriber base while maintaining high engagement rates.
Alex Bruce-Smith, head of editorial at Pedestrian: Be brave enough to abandon old strategies. What worked last month or year might not work tomorrow. And to do that in a challenging market, you need to be honest with yourself about what’s not working, and try something new. At least it keeps it interesting!
Sally Neighbour, former EP of ABC’s Four Corners and 7:30: Embrace change. Go where the audience is. Experiment. Be driven principally by the journalism, not by the platform or delivery methods. Most importantly, continue to invest in and provide high-quality, properly resourced journalism that is worth fighting to preserve.
Erik Jensen, CEO and editor-in-chief of Schwartz Media: Commit to what is important. Pursue quality and seriousness. Trust the audience’s intelligence. Be single-minded in your focus. Do not get distracted by what is not working. Invest in difficult stories. Remain optimistic. Do not let cynicism dim creativity. Remember what journalism and journalism alone can do and do that.
Mandi Wicks, SBS director of news and current affairs:
- News organisations need to publish to all platforms and devices audiences are using. SBS’ output on third-party platforms is critical to growing audiences — we have seen audiences are consuming more short-form vertical videos on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, and longer-form videos on YouTube. Consumption of news podcasts has been increasing along with engagement via newsletters and app notifications.
- Safeguarding trust in news is also key to retaining audiences. Editorial standards and transparency drive perceptions of trust in news. For SBS, this includes accuracy, balance, impartiality and inclusive reporting when covering the many communities we serve, including First Nations, faith and multicultural communities, LGBTIQ+ and people living with disabilities.
Peter Lalor, Cricket Et Al: Fucked if I know.
Chris Janz: CEO of Capital Brief: I believe there is a real shift from the mass-reach model that aggregates the largest number of eyeballs to a more nuanced, quality-driven approach. Readers are seeking out genuine insight from journalists who are subject-matter experts who can tell them what is really going on.
Dave Earley, audience editor at Guardian Australia: Build trust. Have fun doing it. The news fatigue is real, but it’s possible to be informative about serious news topics in a fun and engaging way (see Washington Post TikTok since 2019). To that end, where you have resources to do it, reach people where they are and measure that reach internally, even if it won’t be reflected in industry measures. Your audience engagement off-platform — off your website and without page views — is a legitimate measure of how many people you are reaching. Do it well and you will grow those audiences. Do it in a way that doesn’t break trust and you will keep those audiences. Keep them engaged and they might even start coming back to your site to read the full story, subscribe to an email, contribute or convert to a paying subscriber.
Jordan Baker, chief reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald: This is the million-dollar question. I do, however, think that compelling, well-told stories will always be core, no matter how the way we deliver them evolves.
Cam Wilson, associate editor at Crikey: Outlets need clarity about why people support them. In my mind, there are two main reasons: access or patronage. Either you have information that people need to have (timely scoops on topics that have ramifications for things like business and politics) or you have content that people want to support because they like it and it is something they want to see exist (takes and critiques from people they trust, underrepresented voices, reporting on issues and people that they emotionally care about). Then, you need to get people to pay for it.
Gay Alcorn, former editor of The Age: Depends entirely on what kind of an outlet it is! That’s too broad a question to answer. For the so-called “serious” media: hold their nerve as to their purpose, be honest with their audiences, be humble, correct errors, be brave and try things. Simple! Data is important, but it’s not the only measure of success.
Gina Rushton, editor of Crikey: There are some very boring logistical answers to this question but to be romantic about it — I think you need to be able to level with your readers. There was a period around 2016 where people were earnest and outraged and that really drove traffic. I think we’ve all been through a lot in the past decade and readers want outlets that are transparent, straight-talking, trust their readers’ intellect and (ideally) do so with some irreverence and flair.
Paddy Manning, journalist and author: I hate the celebrification of journalism and the feeling we are drowning in takes and starving for straight reporting. The opinion cycle only feeds public cynicism — the audience is jaded and wise to the BS and the fake news backlash is part of that. Let’s get back to basics. Report. Dig. Tell the truth without fear or favour. That’s hard yakka and highly skilled btw.
Nic Christensen, former head of corporate communications at SBS and head of corporate affairs at Nine: Come to terms with their third-party aggregation strategy and how it fits with their wider audience/commercial strategy. The ACCC has found the platforms are unavoidable partners for most outlets but media needs to figure out how we engage with them in a way that is sustainable but which also doesn’t make us dependent on them.
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