17 August 2006

Bad news for the Canberra Times

| johnboy
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The Australian has noted that the Canberra Times is now the worst performing metropolitan paper in the country:

“The worst-performing newspaper was The Canberra Times, published by Rural Press, which lost 7000 readers Monday-to-Friday (equivalent to 5.4 per cent of its readership), 12,000 on Saturdays (6.3 per cent) and 9000 on Sundays (8 per cent).

Not a great start for the new editor, Mark Baker, who appears (from my reading of the website) to be trying to run a more national agenda.

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barking toad10:11 am 18 Aug 06

Looks like we’re going to get regular fisk rants in the CT now. Not surprising given the ed’s background with the Age.

At least the recent biased opinion pieces are buried in the middle and not planted under headlines on the front page in the guise of news “reports”.

publius hit the nail on the head. anyone who gets political press releases recognises lots of ct journos migrate to alp press officer jobs.

there was one particularly bad one, who only engaged in press release journalism and i dont think ever left her desk, who popped up working for the alp.

You’re right Simto, unfortunately.

It’s always astounding how Fisk gets a run anywhere.

Hm – I’m not so sure. Incompetent journalism from the “wrong” side of the political spectrum (depending on the biases of the individual paper) seems to get punished a lot quicker than those who agree with the rest of the paper’s commetariat.

Take the example of Alan Jones – kicked off the Sun Herald for the Freddy Forsythe incident, and picked up by the Sunday Telegraph immediately.

Well I’m available 😉

Shanahan got booted for lazy writing, not her politics.

She was put on in the first place specifically to try to get a balance of views, but she let herself down with the writing.

I’m sure there’ll be a permanent replacement from her side of the spectrum soonish.

Most of the Canberra Times so called political journalists are cowed by Stanhope. The incredible (puff) piece on Stanhope and his government last week was both a disgrace and an embarrassment. The young “journalist” should be ashamed of himself. It was a classic example of hagiography. A couple of the political writers were Labor staffers- why don’t they declare that? They can be relied upon to find a way of presenting Labor in a positive light or by just going a little “soft”. Stanhope has them bluffed.

Instead of running stories on the back page about the North Melbourne Kangaroos or the Wallabies… and ran stories about genuine stories about real local football teams like the Raiders, they might sell more newspapers.

Angela Shanahan was booted? She might have been a shit stirrer, but at least she balanced the wet lefties like Frisk. I hope she gets a job on the Daily Terror.

Indeed, if they spent some time and money on their website maybe I’d take them a bit more seriously.

It used to be a good paper, up into the 80s. I’m not sure when it became a WOFTAM, or why. Haven’t read it in ages… the SMH is a better read… and has a better website! The CT one is woeful, like a really bad classifieds site.

shanahan was a carping harpie.

good riddance.

Angela Shanahan was booted out weeks ago.

The circulation decline The Australian is crowing about is due to different (tighter) audit restrictions now coming into force.

The Australian hasn’t swallowed its auditing bitter pill yet, unlike the Crimes. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a big splash in the Oz Media section when they do.

The Australian has always sniped at the Crimes ever since the local paper whipped its arse in the early days, forcing the Oz to relocated from Canberra to Sydney.

Woody Mann-Caruso3:08 pm 17 Aug 06

And I almost forgot Angela Shanahan. I thought there was a ban on extremist literature in this country?

Woody Mann-Caruso3:02 pm 17 Aug 06

I only bought it for the Food and Wine lift-out. Now that the lift-out is 90% ads disguised as reviews and 20% lame recipes from readers (yes, it’s 110% pure crap), I don’t bother at all.

Haven’t bought a Crimes for ages, its utter shit. The only times I read it is when its free on a plane, and even then its worth less than I pay for it.

barking toad11:01 am 17 Aug 06

Not surprising when it runs a biased opinion piece by moonbat robert fisk as a front page news “report”.

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