Broadsheet daily newspaper published in
Melbourne,
Victoria,
Australia by
Fairfax, which company also publishes the
The Sydney Morning Herald and various other papers. Slightly more to the
left than its
right wing broadsheet rival,
The Australian, and its
extreme right wing tabloid rival, the
Herald Sun, both of which are pulished by
Rupert Murdoch1. Founded in 1854 it is the oldest and most respected newspaper in Melbourne. Was blacklisted by former
Premier Jeff Kennett and consequently rose in popularity, though its average daily ciculation remains fairly stagnant at 3-400,000 readers.
The Age features opinion pieces espousing a broad-ish spectrum of views, but mostly the various commentators take a centrist stance on issues. Editorials and reports dealing with tricky international issues and politics waffle on and generally say very little of substance. Articles from English newspaper The Guardian are, thankfully, often appropriated but I would rather The Age returned to its former high standards.
In recent times The Age has undergone a series of facelifts. The first, about three years ago, involved a masthead change and a general remodelling. This got off to a shaky start, but in the end it was looking fine.
Suddenly, at the beginning of 2002, it was decided that the paper needed another facelift, to coincide with the relocation of the Age's printing press to a rather horrible new development in Tullamarine. The old masthead was brought back (sort of) and various design changes were made.
The new job looks terrible. It seems as if they have not only sacked their most experienced designers, but their best journalists too. The paper is slimmer than ever, and journalistic standards have dropped almost to Herald Sun levels. Since The Age sells a lot fewer copies per day than its tabloid competitor, one presumes that the aim of the redesign was to attract more readers by appealing to the base denominator. I wonder if they have succeeded, or if we're in line for another redesign?
The saviours of the newspaper remain the cartoonists - Ron Tandberg, Michael Leunig, Cathy Wilcox, Bruce Petty and John Spooner. The letters page usually makes for an interesting read, with various points of views adressed in an intelligent and entertaining manner.
The "culture" section of the paper featueres well-known Melbourne humourists such as Danny Katz and Red Symons, as well as a few rather ordinary comic strips, crossword etc. The EG (Entertaiment Guide) comes with Friday's and contains listing of music, theatre, film events et cetera. On Thursdays the Green Guide (television)is the big feature, whilst on Tuesdays it is the Epicure. The Age publishes the Good Food Guide and Cheap Eats and its food critics are well reputed.
Accessible at www.theage.com.au. A Chinese version is also available online - click on the link in the bottom righthand corner. The online edition is updated infrequently and is generally not worth one's time when it comes to world news.
1. Sir Rupert owns a 5% share in Fairfax, too.