[LINK] A (very) short history of Australian news media online

[Fiona Martin]

Dear Linkers

Thanks to everyone who responded to my call in January for information about pre-web Australian news publications, to include in a short 1500 word section on the history of 'digital native' online news and magazines for the new reference book A Companion to the Australian Media: http://www.scholarly.info/media/

Here’s the draft entry – and if anyone has any corrections or suggestions to make please I’ll do my best to revise. It’s running over word count, so likely to be cut rather than expanded.

regards,
Fiona

Online news and magazines Since the internet's commercialisation in the mid-1990s traditional media websites — ninemsn, smh.com.au, ABC Online and later news.com.au — have been Australia's most trafficked news domains. Yet from the 1980s online entrepreneurs also developed many 'native' digital news and information publications, including email lists, e-zines and news groups, search engines, websites, blogs and apps. These have shaped a flourishing independent internet mediascape, although one slow to generate conventional advertising returns or alternative business models.
            Online media development spans three phases, defined by the openness of the communications protocols used and public accessibility of distribution technologies:

·       Dial-up information services (corporate databases, bulletin board systems, email newsletters and news groups). Closed proprietary or open subscriber networks (BBS, FIDOnet, Usenet) were used to exchange specialist information.

·       World Wide Web (websites, including blogs) based on open standard protocols, hypertextuality, multimediality and interactive functionality. Pre-2000 sites offered relatively static pages, while 'web 2.0' dynamic update tools have enabled publishers to incorporate real time, user-generated content and gather detailed audience data.

·       Cross-media platforms (web, smartphone, tablet) emerging from widespread uptake of internet connected mobile devices and social media services. These signal a mainstream return to user enclosure, employing subscriber registration, proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs), widespread introduction of freemium apps and content paywalls.
While the majority of homegrown online media emerged during the web phase, from the 1970s 'value added networks' such as Ausinet and IBISBusiness provided corporate news and information services via subscriber dial-up networks. In the 1980s, with the wider use of internet TCP/IP protocols, bulletin board systems (BBS) then supported news publishing, messaging, discussion and gaming communities for science and information researchers, computer enthusiasts and remote area workers. Some hardcopy technology magazines, such as Your Computer and Internet Australia (later Australasia), also maintained BBS as a means of interacting with their readerships. IDG's Online World magazine also set up promotional presences on other subscriber computer networks including CompuServe, Microsoft Network and eWorld which, like America Online, competed with the nascent World Wide Web.
            From May 1994, the Australian Academic and Research Network opened up internet access to commercial internet service providers, signalling the Web's rapid domestic uptake and commercialisation. A few eclectic magazine-style sites such as Geekgirl (1993-present), Rosie Cross's cyberfeminist site, and Thomas Ashelford's Wood & Wire (1994-1995) appeared around this time, but Australians were largely  consuming international sites and services. Australian search engine/aggregators, such as Web Wombat (1995-), founded by Michael Tancredi, and Peter Garriga's World Wide Whoopee Home Page, later Beyond the Black Stump (1995-) appealed to cultural nationalism at moment of profound informational globalisation.
            Early mainstream media sites included The Age (January 1995), the Sydney Morning Herald (August 1995), ABC Online (August 1995) and The Australian (April 1996). These services were initially promotional, replicating existing hardcopy and broadcast content. ABC Online and Ninemsn were early adopters of participatory technologies. ABC Radio National held its first 'web chat' with Antarctic scientists in mid 1997, leading to widespread use of program-related forums into the mid 2000s. Ninemsn assumed market dominance with its portal strategy, providing personalised hotmail, profile pages, photo hosting and file storage, chat rooms and DIY 'web communities'.
            At the turn of the century two Liberal entrepreneurs, Graham Young and Steven Mayne, led the growth of an independent online news and opinion sector. In April 1999 Young, a property developer and former vice-president of the Queensland Liberal Party co-founded On Line Opinion with journalist and Brisbane lawyer Lionel Hogg. OLO was imagined as a web portal or "shopping centre of ideas" which would enable politicians, government, NGOs, lobby groups, and researchers to discuss new policy ideas with the public. With the support of education sector sponsors including the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and Queensland University of Technology, Young set up the National Forum, a not-for-profit public company, and a web portal which he ran with a small editorial team and some volunteer assistance. The portal hosted OLO, publishing expert op-ed articles, a discussion forum and a blog about polling, What the People Want. Since its launch OLO has posted the work of over four thousand authors, providing some with professional mentoring. Young’s willingness to run highly controversial views with little editorial intervention has, over time, sparked considerable public debate but also sponsor and advertiser dissatisfaction. OLO's move to a fully advertising-led model was undermined by the 2008 global financial crisis. As ad revenue dropped, Young was forced to cut staff. He currently manages the site unassisted. OLO attracted around 55 thousand UV/month in January 2014, down by two thirds on its peak traffic.
            Crikey [entry], set up as OLO launched, had a markedly different fate. The creation of Stephen Mayne, former Liberal media adviser and journalist, with his barrister partner Paula Piccini, Crikey too offered a provocative news, feature and commentary service - but with more conventional editorial control, a hybrid web/email newsletter delivery strategy and compelling insider information. On selling the site to Eric Beecher's Private Media in 2005, Mayne noted that his business owed much to tip-offs from well-connected subscribers. Beecher later consolidated Crikey's success by employing a stable of opinion and feature writers, cultivating specialist bloggers and developing its freemium subscription, advertising and merchandising revenues.
            In a more deliberative move journalist Margot Kingston pioneered mainstream news blogging in July 2000 with Webdiary, a personal political commentary that became an "open conversation" with her readers and a site for debate about online media ethics and accountability. On her departure from Fairfax Media in 2005 Kingston helped re-establish Webdiary as a participatory journalism and news discussion community, supported by volunteer labour and occasional donations. Until 2012 when the site closed, a small contributor group took care of editorial, moderation and technical work. On average they published over 90% of all contributor articles and 97% of comments. Founded before self-publishing became ubiquitous, Webdiary encouraged many users to publish for the first time, helping launch the media careers of writer/commentators Antony Loewenstein and Tim Dunlop.
            Specialist news services appeared throughout the mid to late 2000s, creating niche online advertising and subscription markets. The Thousands (2005-) evolved from Sydney and Melbourne based pop culture event blogs into 'city guides'. Music sites fasterlouder, mess+noise and inthemix became the new street press (and later part of youth publishing company Sound Alliance). Finance journalist Alan Kohler's Eureka Report investment newsletter (2005-) and Business Spectator website (2007-) later sold to News Limited. Sports opinion site The Roar (August 2007-) capitalised on fan contributions, building a pro-am community that attracted Network Ten investment.
            In response to the participatory journalism moment and interest in opinion writing, media mainstream media organisations launched their own opinion editorial sites. The ABC's Unleashed published a mix of commissioned and contributed editorials, and later as The Drum included in-house analysis, sparking debates about the impact on the national broadcaster's impartiality. News Limited followed with The Punch (2009-2013) and Fairfax Media re-launched the National Times (2009- ).
            Free generalist online news services have also increased media source diversity, often launching new voices, but have had mixed financial fortunes. The longest running, New Matilda (August 2004-), has nearly folded twice. Founder John Menadue, AO, a former News Limited general manager and senior public servant, set up NM to "improve the nature of public discussion in Australia", to address public disenchantment with politics, media abuses of power and the rise of spin. Inspired by Crikey, Menadue saw NM as a "progressive" magazine of political ideas and policy development forum that would have some influence on the Labor party. With high profile shareholders such as William Gurry, Susie Carleton and Graham Freudenberg, a board including pollster Rod Cameron, and a paid subscription model NM had a strong business foundation — but struggled to satisfy both its distinct audiences. In 2007 Menadue hived off the policy initiative, which became the Centre for Policy Development. He sold the magazine for $10 to investor Duncan Turpie, who dropped subscriptions to attract more readers and advertising, unsuccessfully. However after a brief closure in June 2010 editor Marni Cordell bought the company and prompted by reader requests, ran a successful crowd-funding drive to re-launch it in October. NM now publishes news, news features, investigative journalism, commentary and satire with a social justice focus, supported by a community media-like subscription model and some advertising. By early 2014 it had around 1500 subscribers, most paying between $80-100 a year, and 150 thousand unique visitors per month, largely professionals, knowledge industry workers and students.
            Also describing itself as a "progressive journal" citizen and investigative journalism site Independent Australia was founded in June 2010 by owner and managing editor David Donovan, former vice Chair of the Australian Republican movement. IA is owned by the Donovan Family Trust and focuses on exposing legal and political corruption. While it has sought crowd-funding for an investigation of the Peter Slipper resignation affair, IA normally runs on a mix of donations, advertising and merchandising. Donovan reports it broke even in mid 2013 and in early 2014 was attracting over 300 thousand UVs/month.
            Philanthropy proved a less successful basis for the international ambitions of The Global Mail, an innovative long-form feature and investigative journalism service, launched with a splash in February 2012 after being fully underwritten by online booking entrepreneur Graeme Wood. Wood gave TGM a pledge of funding up to $15 million over $5 years, and a free editorial hand to promote independent, transparent, “open” journalism that would promote reader engagement. Edited by ex-ABC foreign correspondent and Media Watch presenter Monica Attard and then, following her departure, by journalist Lauren Martin, the TGM's sophisticated multimedia works attracted numerous commendations and won contributors three Walkley awards. However the site did not develop a broad user base or sustainable revenue streams. It closed after Wood withdrew his support in 2014 and invested in the UK Guardian's Australia web operation.
In contrast Australia's fastest-growing international feature and analysis service, not-for-profit The Conversation, has developed from a more diverse base of government and corporate sponsorship. Launched in March 2011, TC was the vision of former Fairfax editor Andrew Jaspan with the support of political scientist Glyn Davis, Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne. It publishes commissioned and contributed articles written by academics, with professional editorial support. Building on seed funding from five universities, the CSIRO, Federal and Victorian governments, Commonwealth Bank and legal advice from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, TC has enlisted 28 Australian university partners or funders and begun a global push, launching a UK edition in May 2013 and establishing a Jakarta based editor. The local presence received 1.5 million UVs/month in March 2014, thirty five per cent from overseas. Its adoption of Creative Commons licensing has seen eighty-seven per cent of articles republished elsewhere, with a monthly reach of 5 million reads; an effective promotional strategy.
            By 2014 Private Media owner Eric Beecher was Australia's most successful commercial independent online news publisher, with Crikey and five free access niche titles — Leading Company, Property Observer, SmartCompany, StartUp Smart, and Women's Agenda — targeting high-income users. As competition for domestic advertising has increased digital news entrepreneurs have sought local and international partnerships to sustain new ventures.  In 2013 Beecher and veteran print editor Bruce Guthrie launched The New Daily, a news aggregation site, with funding from three major superannuation funds. The investment led the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to monitor the site's coverage of super issues for bias. In mid 2014 Nine Entertainment Co's digital publishing company Mi9 partnered the UK's most popular web news service, the Mail Online to launch an Australian-badged site that aggregates lifestyle and celebrity content from both publishers.


DR FIONA MARTIN
Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media
Department of Media and Communications |  School of Letters Arts and Media
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

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