tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post210251589050540853..comments2024-02-17T19:03:04.824+11:00Comments on New England, Australia: Rural Press, Fairfax and Brian McCarthyJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-48026281948909453272018-09-30T16:02:29.362+10:002018-09-30T16:02:29.362+10:00Sorry for such an incredibly slow response, Anthon...Sorry for such an incredibly slow response, Anthony. Did you try the Sommerlads?Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-89457003984663318322018-08-24T19:39:05.215+10:002018-08-24T19:39:05.215+10:00This is all very interesting. Mr Parker was a grea...This is all very interesting. Mr Parker was a great friend and mentor of mine in the early 90’s. I knew many of his lieutenants: Brian McCarthy, Michael O’Brien, Barry Stofberg not to mention Lenore McCotter his loyal PA for so many years. If anyone can help me connect with Mr Parker I would greatly appreciate it. My email address is acjadvisory@gmail.com<br />Cheers<br />Anthony. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09026431872618233369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-57103205430276346802010-12-10T08:57:14.006+11:002010-12-10T08:57:14.006+11:00Feedback from a Fairfax/RP employee:
It is indeed...Feedback from a Fairfax/RP employee:<br /><br />It is indeed a great story. I would just like to put a few observations on record and it looks like I have found a good spot:<br /><br />McCarthy carried into the CBD the hopes of many who have devoted their lives to regional publishing.<br />I cannot write about this without first declaring the chip on my shoulder from the inequity that has shaped our lives.<br /><br />Regional journalists have been second-class citizens in Australian publishing for generations. McCarthy, as Rural Press CEO, headed a company of overworked journalists suffering antiquated or substandard production systems and other conditions; tolerating significant infrigements on editorial standards/demarcations due to commercial interests; and collecting 20-30pc less pay than metropolitan counterparts who produced far fewer words.<br /><br />He was promoted to Fairfax CEO because urgent action was needed. The company and the community clamoured for action to stop the metro slide. The board obviously saw him as a tough-talking hatchet man who could take the tough decisions.<br /><br />When RP and Fairfax merged, I left my pc screen and walked into the night air, looked upward into the stars and said "there is a god". Here was the basis for a perfect melding of two cultures - the regional spirit of flexibility, tolerance and commitment to do the best with the least, mixing with the metropolitan one-story-a-day/week/month luxury. But the metro journos, especially on the SMH and Age, have always had strength of numbers and the time to draw important lines in the sand and live by their "quality" branding, which the System has recognised.<br /><br />Brian represented us when he walked into Pyrmont and:<br />1. Sold a huge chunk of his Fairfax shares. This may have been defendable but it gave weight to all the critics who were saying that Fairfax Media was "on the nose - worse than a bag of prawns in the sun". A CEO seemed to be indicating it was a good time to bail out.<br />2. Endorsed the SMH's Singapore Airlines wrap-around fiasco which destabilised the company's relationships with loyal clients and declared war on editorial standards and the ethical hardliners.<br />3. Sacked a heap of journalists, sending a further message that Fairfax was in a slide. But he did not not offer any positives to counter the negatives.<br />4. Delivered a kick in the guts to his regional readership by campaigning against the ABC's regional services, showing that he was motivated by only commercial considerations (google: Brian McCarthy "ABC").<br />5. Kept everyone waiting for two years to show some positive vision - then let us all down badly.<br /><br />It's late and I must finish here. I am sad and sorry that a boy from the bush just couldn't hack it in the city. Sure, in the IV you put up, he said all the right things but I don't really think he really understood the weight of the cultural division. He needed to have vision - and he had little. He was too accustomed to editors and editorial interests rolling over and saying, "Yes Brian ..." Fairfax is now trying to separate itself from Rural Press, which it obviously regards as an 'inferior brand'. The inequity continues. Brian did nothing to bring his regional journos up a peg towards the metro level yet crowed about the service.<br /> <br />I see the whole saga with mixed emotions.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-22110908755491528012010-12-07T10:37:57.320+11:002010-12-07T10:37:57.320+11:00Hi Miss E. Glad you liked the post.
The problem t...Hi Miss E. Glad you liked the post.<br /><br />The problem that the small unlisted local or regional public companies faced is that changes to the law were driven elsewhere by scandals mainly with big listed public companies. They just got caught in the wash.<br /><br />I am dong a longer post on the NEH blog that I hope will come up tonight, work willing.<br /><br />I, too, am concerned about the decline in the cap city papers although I am also guilty of getting my news in varying formats! We are our own worst enemies!Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25637657.post-58357764320583907572010-12-07T08:19:09.645+11:002010-12-07T08:19:09.645+11:00A great post, and a good record marker. Loved the ...A great post, and a good record marker. Loved the economic sociology of localised ownership in public company form. Pity a new format can't be established which achieves similar results - without the inherent dangers. <br /><br />I am deeply concerned about what happens to the Fairfax cap city mastheads. I now live in Melbourne but have spent most of my almost seven decades in the Northern Territory and North Queensland - dependent on News Limited. To get the SMH to Townsville takes time and expense. Not viable!<br /><br />I am also concerned - with the decline of cap city mastheads - that the community cohesion such newspapers bring will be adversely affected - and, as much as I love, the net cannot adequately replace such cohesion geographically.<br /><br />I must 'fess though that, in spite of the print addict I once confessed to being, I am reading print less and less and getting my news in a melange form from twitter, blogs, and the net. Paywalls on information bother me.Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07862531789968068093noreply@blogger.com