| Independent. Always. | |
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 The front page on 9 May 2016, the start of the2016 federal election campaign | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Nine Entertainment Co. (since 2018) |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Publisher | Nine Entertainment Co. |
| Editor | Bevan Shields[1] |
| Deputy editor | Liam Phelan |
| Associate editor | Deborah Snow |
| Managing editor | Monique Farmer |
| Sports editor | Ben Coady |
| Photo editor | Mags King |
| Staff writers | 700+[citation needed] |
| Founded | April 1831; 194 years ago (1831-04) |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 1 Denison Street,North Sydney, Australia |
| Circulation | 231,232 (2018)[a][2] |
| Readership | 808,000(weekly)[3] |
| Sister newspapers | |
| ISSN | 0312-6315 |
| OCLC number | 226369741 |
| Website | smh.com.au |
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a dailytabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned byNine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as theSydney Herald, theHerald is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and claims to be the most widely read masthead in the country.[3] It is considered anewspaper of record for Australia.[4][5]
The newspaper is published incompact print form from Monday to Saturday asThe Sydney Morning Herald and on Sunday as its sister newspaper,The Sun-Herald and digitally as anonline site andapp, seven days a week.[6] The print edition ofThe Sydney Morning Herald is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regionalNew South Wales, theAustralian Capital Territory andSouth East Queensland.
The Sydney Morning Herald publishes a variety of supplements, including the magazinesGood Weekend (included in the Saturday edition ofThe Sydney Morning Herald); andSunday Life. There are a variety of lift-outs, some of them co-branded with online classified-advertising sites:
The executive editor is James Chessell and the editor is Bevan Shields. Tory Maguire is national editor, Monique Farmer is life editor, and the publisher is chief digital and publishing officer Chris Janz.
Former editors include Darren Goodsir,Judith Whelan, Sean Aylmer, Peter Fray, Meryl Constance, Amanda Wilson (the first female editor, appointed in 2011),[7]William Curnow,[8]Andrew Garran,Frederick William Ward (editor from 1884 to 1890),Charles Brunsdon Fletcher, Colin Bingham, Max Prisk, John Alexander,Paul McGeough, Alan Revell,Alan Oakley, and Lisa Davies.
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The Sydney Herald was founded in 1831 by three employees of the now-defunctSydney Gazette: Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes, andWilliam McGarvie. A Centenary Supplement (since digitised) was published in 1931.[9] The original four-page weekly had a print run of 750. The newspaper began to publish daily in 1840, and the operation was purchased in 1841 by an Englishman namedJohn Fairfax who renamed itThe Sydney Morning Herald the following year.[10] 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."
Donald Murray, who invented a predecessor of theteleprinter, worked at theHerald during the 1890s.[11] A weekly "Page for Women" was added in 1905, edited byTheodosia Ada Wallace.[12]
TheSMH 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, onlyThe West Australian was later in making the switch. The newspaper launched a Sunday edition,The Sunday Herald, in 1949. Four years later, this was merged with the newly acquiredSun newspaper to createThe Sun-Herald, which continues to this day.
By the mid-1960s, a new competitor had appeared in Rupert Murdoch's national dailyThe Australian, which was first published on 15 July 1964.
John Fairfax & Sons Limited commemorated the Herald's 150th anniversary in 1981 by presenting theCity of Sydney with Stephen Walker's sculptureTank Stream Fountain.[13]
In 1995, the company launched the newspaper's web editionsmh.com.au.[14] 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 from Jones Street to new offices at Darling Park and built a new printing press atChullora, in the city's west. TheSMH later moved with other Sydney Fairfax divisions to a building at Darling Island.
In May 2007,Fairfax Media announced it would be moving from abroadsheet format to the smallercompact ortabloid-size, in the footsteps ofThe Times, for bothThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.[15] After abandoning these plans later in the year, Fairfax Media again announced in June 2012 its plan to shift both broadsheet newspapers to tabloid size, with effect from March 2013.[16] Fairfax also announced it would cut staff across the entire group by 1,900 over three years and erectpaywalls around the papers' websites.[17] The subscription type was to be afreemium model, limiting readers to a number of free stories per month, with a payment required for further access.[18] The announcement was part of an overall "digital first" strategy of increasinglydigital oronline content over printed delivery, to "increase sharing of editorial content," and to assist the management's wish for "full integration of its online, print and mobile platforms."[17]
It was announced in July 2013 that theSMH's news director, Darren Goodsir, would become editor-in-chief, replacing Sean Aylmer.[19]
On 22 February 2014, the Saturday edition was produced in broadsheet format for the final time, with this too converted to compact format on 1 March 2014,[20] ahead of the decommissioning of the printing plant at Chullora in June 2014.[21]
In June 2022, the paper received global coverage and backlash to an attemptedouting of Australian actressRebel Wilson by columnist Andrew Hornery, and the subsequent defence of his since-deleted column by editor Bevan Shields; Wilson pre-empted the Hornery disclosure with anInstagram post confirming her relationship.[22][23][24]
In 2012, Woman of the Year (WOTY) awards were created by the editor of theDaily Life section, Sarah Oakes, inspired by the sexism faced by former prime ministerJulia Gillard. Winners were selected as the result of voting by the public as well as a panel of judges appointed by Fairfax. Winners have included:[25]
The contemporary editorial stance ofThe Sydney Morning Herald is generally centrist.[29] It has been described as the most centrist of Australia's three major news publications (the others beingThe Australian andThe Age).[29] In 2004, the newspaper's editorial page stated: "market libertarianism andsocial liberalism" were the two "broad themes" that guided theHerald's editorial stance.[30] During the1999 referendum on whether Australia should become a republic, theHerald (like the other two major papers) strongly supported a Yes vote.[31] It also endorsed the Yes vote for the2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[32]
TheSydney Morning Herald did not endorse theLabor Party for federal office in the first six decades ofFederation, always endorsing aconservative government.[30] The newspaper has since endorsed Labor in sevenfederal elections:1961 (Calwell),1984 and1987 (Hawke), 2007 (Rudd), 2010 (Gillard),[33][34] 2019 (Shorten),[35] and 2022 (Albanese).[36]
During the2004 Australian federal election, theHerald did not endorse a party,[30][33] but subsequently resumed its practice of making endorsements.[33] After endorsing theCoalition at the2013[37] and2016 federal elections,[38] the newspaper endorsedBill Shorten's Labor Party in2019, afterMalcolm Turnbull was ousted as prime minister.[35]
At thestate level, theHerald has consistently backed the Coalition; the only time since 1973[39] that it has endorsed a Labor government forNew South Wales wasBob Carr's government in the2003 election, though it declined to endorse either party three times during this period.[33]
TheHerald endorsed Democratic candidateHillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[40]
TheHerald endorsed the Liberal-National Coalition in the run-up for the 2023 New South Wales state election.[41]
In May 2023, theHerald opposed the extradition of formerWikiLeaks editorJulian Assange to the United States, with the newspaper conducting a poll that found 79% oppose Assange's extradition to the United States.[42]
AsThe Sydney Herald, the newspaper's editorial stance at times reflected racist attitudes within the colony, with the paper urgingsquatters across Australia to emulate the mass killing ofNative Americans. The front page of the paper on December 26, 1836 read: "If nothing but extermination will do, theywill exterminate the savages as they would wild beasts."[43] In the wake of theMyall Creek massacre in which at least twenty-eight unarmedWirraayaraay men, women and children were murdered by a group of white stockmen, the paper published a long letter from a squatter in defence the killings.[44] The squatter described the Indigenous inhabitants of Australia as "the most degenerate, despicable, and brutal race of beings in existence", writing: "they will, and must become extinct – civilization destroys them – where labor and industry flourish,they die!"[45] TheHerald's editorialisation on the trials contrasted with other newspapers which were more respectful on the matter and on the notion ofAboriginal Australians being protected under the law as British subjects, the same as settlers. In 2023, the paper apologised for its coverage of the massacre and the subsequent trials of the perpetrators.[46]
The below is a list ofThe Sydney Morning Herald's current journalists.
 |
| Name | Role | Other roles | Start year at Nine / Fairfax |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Massola | National affairs editor[51] | Previously South-East Asia correspondent | |
| Callan Boys | Good Food Guide editor (SMH) Restaurant critic for Good Weekend Good Food writer | ||
| Paul Sakkal | Federal political reporter | Same role atThe Age | |
| Lisa Visentin | Federal political reporter | Same role atThe Age | |
| Angus Thompson | Federal political reporter (industrial relations) | Same role atThe Age | |
| Monique Farmer | National Managing Editor | Same role atThe Age | |
| David Swan | Technology Editor[52] | Same role atThe Age[53] |
The below is a list ofThe Sydney Morning Herald's former journalists.
|
After 40 years asart critic,John McDonald was sacked in September 2024.[54]
| Name | Role | Other roles | Start year at Nine / Fairfax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gail Williams | Food columnist | Same role atThe Sunday Times |
Fairfax went public in 1957 and grew to acquire interests in magazines, radio, and television. The group collapsed spectacularly on 11 December 1990 whenWarwick Fairfax, who was the great-great-grandson of John Fairfax, attempted to privatise the group by borrowing $1.8 billion. The group was bought byConrad Black before being re-listed in 1992. In 2006, Fairfax announced a merger withRural Press, which brought in a Fairfax family member, John B. Fairfax, as a significant player in the company.[55] From 10 December 2018, Fairfax Media merged intoNine Entertainment, making the paper a sister to theNine Network'sTCN station.[56] This reunited the paper with a television station; Fairfax had been the founding owner ofATN, which became the flagship of what became theSeven Network.
Column 8 is a shortcolumn to whichHerald readers send their observations of interesting happenings. It was first published on 11 January 1947.[57] The name comes from the fact that it originally occupied the final (8th) column of thebroadsheet newspaper's front page. In a front-page redesign in the lead-up to theSydney Olympic Games in 2000, Column 8 moved to the back page of the first section from 31 July 2000.[58] As at February 2024, the column is the final column on the Opinion (editorial and letters) pages.
The content tends to the quirky, typically involving strange urban occurrences, instances of confusing signs (often inEngrish),word play, and discussion of more or less esoteric topics.[59]
The column is also sometimes affectionately known as Granny's Column, after a fictional grandmother who supposedly edited it.[57] The column's original logo was a caricature ofSydney Deamer, originator of the column and its author for 14 years.[58][60]
It was edited for 15 years by George Richards, who retired on 31 January 2004.[57][61] Other editors besides Deamer and Richards have been Duncan Thompson, Bill Fitter, Col Allison, Jim Cunningham, Pat Sheil, and briefly,Peter Bowers and Lenore Nicklin.[61] The column is, as of March 2017, edited byHerald journalist Tim Barlass, who frequently appends reader contributions with puns; and who made the decision to reduce the column's publication from its traditional six days a week, down to just weekdays.[62]
TheOpinion section is a regular of the daily newspaper, containing opinion on a wide range of issues. Mostly concerned with relevant political, legal and cultural issues, the section presents work by regular columnists, includingHerald political editorPeter Hartcher,Ross Gittins, and occasional reader-submitted content. Iconoclastic Sydney barristerCharles C. Waterstreet, upon whose life the television workplace comedyRake is loosely based, had a regular humour column in this section.
Good Weekend was launched in May 1978, as a Saturday magazine appearing in bothSMH andThe Canberra Times.[63] The editor was Valerie Lawson, andCyprian Fernandes was founding chief sub-editor.[64][65]
It is now[when?] distributed with bothThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age in Saturday editions. It contains, on average, four feature articles written by its stable of writers and others syndicated from overseas as well as sections on food, wine, and fashion. Writers include Stephanie Wood, Jane Cadzow, Melissa Fyfe, Tim Elliott, Konrad Marshall, and Amanda Hooton.[citation needed]
Other sections include "Modern Guru", which features humorous columnists includingDanny Katz responding to the everyday dilemmas of readers; aSamurai Sudoku; and "The Two of Us", containing interviews with a pair of close friends, relatives or colleagues.[citation needed]
Good Weekend is edited by Katrina Strickland.[when?] Previous editors includeBen Naparstek,Judith Whelan (2004–2011)[66] and Fenella Souter.[citation needed]
The paper has been partially digitised as part of theAustralian Newspapers Digitisation Program project of theNational Library of Australia.[67][68][69]
In March 2024, David Swan, technology editor ofSMH andThe Age, won the 2023 Gold Lizzie for Best Journalist of the Year at the IT Journalism Awards. He also won Best Technology Journalist and Best Telecommunications Journalist, and was highly commended in the Best Technology Issues category.[52][70] WithThe Age, SMH also won Best Consumer Technology Coverage and were highly commended in the Best News Coverage category.[53]
SMH ... is also generally seen as the most politically centrist of the three largest-circulation non-tabloid newspaper [in Australia]:SMH,The Australian, andThe Age.
Moving to theSydney Morning Herald, from 1947 to 1961 Deamer was founding editor of 'Column 8', a daily, front-page feature of miscellaneous paragraphs under a symbolic drawing of 'Granny Herald' whose waspish features bore a resemblance to his own. He retired in February 1961.
The Column 8 has a new editor, Pat Sheil, and he is changing the style of the 58-year-oldSydney Morning Herald column. "I am trying to make it a bit edgier than it was", he toldMediaWeek (11 April 2005, p.6). "Basically, Column 8 should be like a chat, without making it too trite or stupid." George Richards edited Column 8 for fifteen and a half years before retiring early last year (see ANHG 26.19). James Cockington edited it until handing over to Sheil in February this year.
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