Dumb and dumbing down
Quality is the key to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s survival. Quality is their foundation - for readers and advertisers. Whatever new technology may bring, broadsheet newspapers will not last unless they are excellent.
We all agree on this. But Fairfax management is not sure what quality means or whether it’s worth paying for. They talk quality, of course, particularly when they are calling journalists and shutting foreign reporting posts.
Quality papers must satisfy quality readers and they are more demanding than ever. They want a paper that makes sense of the world. They want to be amused and to learn. A quality newspaper arms its readers for the
future. It does not go through the motions of journalism but offers the real thing: intelligence and insight, reach and wit.
Quality newspapers will not survive without smart systems and efficient management. But that is not why readers buy papers. They buy them for what is on the page - for the journalism.
In the end, quality journalism depends on having good writers, reporters, editors, subeditors, graphic artists and designers, illustrators and photograhers. Chopping into their ranks means chopping quality.
And it already shows.