Tag Archives: The Age

Inside Story: Behind the Age’s Australian banknote investigation

Investigative journalists Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie talk to broadcaster Peter Clarke about their work on an investigation for Melbourne’s The Age into allegations of international bribery involving Securency, the banknote company half-owned by the country’s Reserve Bank. If you get a chance to listen to the podcast in full it’s a great behind-the-scenes account of how an investigation can develop from the first hint of information to the final story – and why this can sometimes be a slow-burning thing.

Podcast at this link…

#cop15: Fairfax paper defends decision not to publish Guardian’s Copenhagen editorial

As noted yesterday, the Guardian persuaded 56 newspapers around the world to run its Copenhagen climate summit editorial, but no major titles from the US and Australia.

Australian media blogger Margaret Simons commented that Melbourne-based The Age’s explanation for not running the editorial was rather different from the Guardian’s. Contrast and compare:

The Guardian deputy editor Ian Katz:

“Another Kyoto holdout is also unrepresented: both the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age dropped out of the project after climate change convulsed Australian politics, demanding, they felt, a more localised editorial position.”

The Age:

The Age was invited to take part in the global editorial but declined. Editor-in-chief Paul Ramadge said yesterday: “We applaud The Guardian’s global initiative. At The Age we decided it was important to put our own views – to be consistent and partly because of the nuances of the debate in Australia.”

Answering a letter from one its readers today, the Age (owned by Fairfax) argues it did not ‘pull out’:

The Guardian reports that two Australian newspapers, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, pulled out of this historic initiative because the election of Tony Abbott as Opposition Leader has recast the debate about climate change in this country. Fairfax Media, please explain.

Peter Stroud, Keilor East

■ EDITOR’S NOTE

The Age did not pull out of an agreement to publish the editorial written by The Guardian. We expressed support in principle for the project but decided it was important to put our own views in a page 1 editorial.

The Australian: Fairfax says earnings could fall by 28 per cent

The Australian reports:

“Sydney-based Fairfax Media, publisher of newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, said underlying earnings could fall to around $600 million, before depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax, and assuming no further deterioration in advertising markets.”

Full story at this link…

Theaustralian.com.au: Former editor of The Age criticises Fairfax approach to the internet

An extract from Michael Gawenda’s A.N Smith lecture, in which the former editor of The Age says that “the editors of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have no control over their papers’ websites. All the talk of newsroom integration is rendered meaningless as a result.”