The front page of The Sydney Morning Herald on March 30, 2007.
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Fairfax Media
Editor	Alan Oakley
Founded	1831
Price	AU$1.20 Monday–Friday AU$2.20 Saturday
Headquarters	201 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia
ISSN	0312-6315
Website: www.smh.com.au

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. The newspaper's Sunday edition, The Sun-Herald, is published in tabloid format. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously-published newspaper in the country. The Sydney Morning Herald is the second-highest circulation newspaper in Sydney, behind the tabloid Daily Telegraph.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations as of March 2006, the Herald circulated 211,700 copies per weekday.^[1] The Saturday edition sells 365,500 copies.

The editor is Alan Oakley.

Overview

The Sydney Morning Herald is considered to be Sydney's "newspaper of record". The paper is historically credited with high standards of journalism, however in recent years it has been accused of "dumbing down" editorial content, with more space allocated to larger photographs and lifestyle-based stories.^[2]

The SMH has also been accused of plagiarism: a major SMH feature in March 2003 "The Rise of the Metrosexual" [1] (also syndicated in sister paper The Age), clearly "borrowed" heavily from Mark Simpson's "Meet the Metrosexual" on Salon.com the previous July, down to the title and illustration [2]. Neither his article nor Simpson himself, who originated the term, [3] were credited.

The Saturday edition includes an in-depth features section called News Review, and arts and entertainment guide Spectrum. The SMH publishes a variety of supplements, including the magazines Good Weekend and the(sydney)magazine; and the lift-outs The Guide (television), Good Living (lifestyle), Metro (entertainment) and Radar. The lift-outs Domain (real estate), Drive (motoring) and MyCareer (employment) are co-branded with Fairfax Media's successful online classified advertising sites.

Former editors include George Richards and Peter Luck.

History

Three employees of the now-defunct Sydney Gazette, Alfred Stephens, Frederick Stokes and William McGarvie, founded the The Sydney Herald in 1831. The four-page weekly had a print run of 750. In 1840, the newspaper began to publish daily. In 1841, an Englishman named John Fairfax purchased the operation, renaming it The Sydney Morning Herald the following year. Fairfax, whose family were to control the newspaper for almost 150 years, based his editorial policies "upon principles of candour, honesty and honour. We have no wish to mislead; no interest to gratify by unsparing abuse or indiscriminate approbation."

Frederick William Ward was editor 1884 to 1890.^[3]

The SMH was late to the trend of printing news rather than just advertising on the front page, doing so from 15 April 1944. Of the country's metropolitan dailies, only The West Australian was later in making the switch. In 1949, the newspaper launched a Sunday edition, The Sunday Herald. Four years later, this was merged with the newly-acquired Sun newspaper to create The Sun-Herald, which continues to this day.

One of the newspaper's best-loved features is Column 8. The column, which was first published on January 11, 1947, publishes reports from readers of interesting observations, such as confusing signs or amusing trends. Column 8 takes its name from its former position in the eighth column of the front page. In 2000, to the consternation of some readers, the column was moved to the back page.

In 1995, the company launched smh.com.au, the newspaper's web edition. The site has since grown to include interactive and multimedia features beyond the content in the print edition. Around the same time, the organisation moved to new offices at Darling Park and built a new printing press at Chullora, in the city's west.

In 2000, the newspaper was radically redesigned by Sydney-based publication design group de Luxe & Associates.

In 2007, the CEO of Fairfax Media, David Kirk announced that the Herald would be reducing its broadsheet size as a cost-cutting measure and a reflection of more classified advertising moving to the internet. It is unclear whether staff will be affected by this change. ^[4]

Political viewpoint

Historically, the SMH has been a conservative newspaper as evidenced by the fact that it did not endorse the Australian Labor Party at any election until 1984, or state election until 2003. Its' parent company, Fairfax is currently run by a high profile former member of the liberal-conservative political party, Ron Walker.

The newspaper has in recent years attempted to spearhead political campaigns, including the "Campaign for Sydney" (planning and transport) and "Earth Hour" (environment).

In a surprise move, the SMH declined to endorse a party at the 2004 Federal election in line with a decision to "no longer endorse one party or another at election time." The newspaper noted that the policy might yet be revised: "A truly awful government of any colour, for example, would bring reappraisal."^[5] At the 2007 NSW State election, the Herald endorsed the Coalition (conservatives).^[6]

Notable contributors

• David Marr
• Miranda Devine
• Adele Horin
• Gerard Henderson
• Ross Gittins
• Peter FitzSimons

Business

Main article: Fairfax Media

Fairfax went public in 1957 and grew to acquire interests in magazines, radio and television. The group collapsed spectacularly on December 11, 1990 when Warwick Fairfax, great-great-grandson of John Fairfax, attempted to privatise the group by borrowing $1.8 billion. The group was bought by Conrad Black before being re-listed in 1992. In 2006, Fairfax announced a merger with Rural Press, which brought a Fairfax family member, John B. Fairfax, in as a significant player in the company.

See also

• List of newspapers in Australia
• Australian Journalism
• Earth Hour

Notes

References

• Ruth Park (1999). Ruth Park's Sydney. Duffy & Snellgrove. ISBN 1-875989-45-5. 

External links

• smh.com.au
• History of The Sydney Morning Herald
• Campaign for Sydney
• Earth Hour