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Australian Financial Review

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The Australian Financial Review
The Daily Habit of Successful People
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatCompact
Owner(s)Nine Entertainment
Founder(s)John Fairfax & Sons
PublisherNine Publishing
Editor-in-chiefJames Chessell
EditorCosima Marriner
Founded16 August 1951(1951-08-16)
LanguageEnglish
HeadquartersSydney,New South Wales
CountryAustralia
CirculationMon–Fri: 47,200
Sat: 56,100[1]
ISSN0404-2018(print)
1444-9900(web)
OCLCnumber1131035760
Websitewww.afr.com

TheAustralian Financial Review(AFR) is an Australian business-focused,compactdaily newspapercovering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based inSydney,New South Wales, Australia; owned byNine Entertainmentand has been published continuously since its founding in 1951. TheAFRis published in tabloid format six times a week, whilst providing 24/7 online coverage through its website. In November 2019, theAFRreached 2.647 million Australians through both print and digital mediums (Mumbrella).[2]

TheAustralian Financial Reviewstarted as a print-onlyweekly newspaperin 1951, before changing to abi-weeklyin 1961, and adaily newspaperin 1963. The paper now publishes multiplemagazinesand a supplementary weekend paper, which was launched in 1995. In that same year, theAFRwebsite was also released, which helped to expand its readership base across all media.[3]TheAFR,along with most ofFairfax Media,was purchased by Nine Entertainment in 2018.[4]

History

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TheAustralian Financial Reviewnewspaper started as a weekly publication in 1951, published byJohn Fairfax & Sons.The paper's main objective was to inform the Australian public on business life and news.[5]

In 1961, theAFRconverted to a bi-weekly, and then established itself as the first daily newspaper by 1963.[6]Despite other newspapers claiming the title of the first daily national paper, Maxwell Newton was the editor in charge of taking theFinancial Reviewfrom a bi-weekly to the first daily national paper.[7]During 1961–62, theAFR'sprimary competitor was TheAustralian Financial Times,which was in operation for less than 12 months. In the 1960s and 1970s, theAFRdeveloped a strong readership amongst a specialist business audience due to its neutral stance on domestic government policies.[5]In the 1970s, despite theAFR'sreputation as a national business daily, many saw it as the primary competitor forThe Australiangiven its high proportion of readers in theAB demographic.[7]

In 1995, Fairfax launched theAustralian Financial ReviewMagazinein response to its growing readership across a wide-ranging audience.[8]The magazine was published to cover topics other than business includingleisure,politics,travel,sports,fashion,and other peripheral topics.[9]In December 2019, the magazine recorded an average issue readership of 326,000.[10]Since its launch in 1995, theAFR Magazinehas won the 'Best Newspaper Inserted Magazine' (2013-2019), 'Newspaper Inserted Brand of the Year' (2019) and Mumbrella's 'Special Issue of the Year' (2019).[8]

The magazine's founding was followed by the launch of theAFR'swebsite in the same year, which started as a free online source of financial news.[11]

In 1997, theAFRlaunched itsWeekend Editionwhich extended the paper's publications into the weekend, with an explicit focus of targeting the growing readership base by providing news articles outside of the traditional finance setting.[8]

In 2016, theAFRlaunched mobile and iPad compatible applications to provide its digital subscribers more accessibility to its news platform. This was aimed at allowing cross-platform accessibility without having to download two separate applications across different device platforms.[12]The application carries similar features to the website including sections such as: Street Talk and Rear Window. The product management team decided to revamp the app due to the wide uptake of smartphones in the Australian market, and to improve their user-interface experience. The UTS Business School was the launch partner for the app, providing logistical advice on the app's delivery.[13]The app's subscription price is included in the 'all premium digital subscription' bundle.

TheAustralian Financial Reviewhas grown its product offerings since its beginnings as afinancenewsroom.It has consistently been well received by the journalism sector as one of the most high-quality newsrooms across Australia.[14]Since the 2000s, theAFRhas launchedBOSS(magazine for business leadership and strategy) and theSophisticated Travellermagazine. In 2019, theAustralian Financial Reviewrecorded double-digit subscriber growth, as it continued to market its newspaper as the driver of Australian business-people's success and ambitions.[2]In 2020, due to the newspaper company's expansion efforts across different readership bases, theAFRreached 2.647m Australians a month.[2]

Evolution of paywall system

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TheAFRfirst introduced itspaywallin 2006, charging online users to view its articles – a payment model that had not yet been utilised by any other Australian newspaper firm.[15]The switch to a paywall was done because the newspaper company thought it could further monetise its niche business audience who could afford it.[16]Following this change, theAFRcontinued to adjust the pricing of its subscription due to low subscriber growth.[17]

In 2011, it newly introduced a freemium paywall in which only a small portion of articles were free. It has been noted that theAFR'swebsite locks approximately 86% of its online content behind a paywall, higher than its closest competitor theNational Business Review.[17]This was aimed at increasing its digital readership which in 2011 amounted to 6,000 subscribers.[18]In addition, it was later determined that theAFR'sfailures in attracting online subscribers was due to its paywall being too expensive. Its 2012 price of $59 AUD was notably higher than other international mastheads, includingThe New York Timeswhich was priced at $37.84 AUD.[17]As a result, theAFRhas since lowered its digital subscription price to $29.50 AUD.

Nine Entertainment merger

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The mega-cap deal that sawNine EntertainmentandFairfax Mediamerge was inspired by initial chats between Hugh Marks (Nine CEO) and Nick Falloon (Fairfax chairman).[19]The pair discussed how the two companies' assets could synergise, improve efficiencies, save costs and increase scale. During the lead up to the merger, there were a few roadblocks. In 2016, the proposed merger was not feasible due to government legislation surrounding media ownership.[20]In addition, Nine Entertainment's board believed that itsshare pricewasundervaluedand thus wanted to delay any acquisition until its fair value had been reflected. Amongst the delays in talks between the two parties, Fairfax had other suitors includingprivate equitygroupsTPG CapitalandHellman & Friedman,which ended up walking away from the table.[21]

In 2018, Nine Entertainment's board re-entered into talks with Fairfax of a potentialmergerafter its share price had jumped following an upbeat earnings report.[22]The proposed structure of the takeover was 0.3627 Nine shares plus $0.025 AUD per Fairfax share, composing acashplusscripdeal. This represented a 21.9% takeover premium to Fairfax's last close, and valued Fairfax at $2313.8mm AUD.[4]Once the deal was made, it was reported that Fairfax's portfolio newspapers, including theAFR,would maintain independence from Nine's media groups. As part of the proposed deal, Hugh Marks took over corporate control of the combined group with Fairfax CEO,Greg Hywood,stepping down.

The combined entity in 2018 was forecasted to have approximately 6,000 employees (inclusive of all the duplicate roles made redundant), major resources across all media types including print, TV, radio and online; and $3 billion in revenue.[19]

The proposed merger was also put under review by theAustralian Competition & Consumer Commission(ACCC) on antitrust measures.[23]It was announced in November 2018 that the ACCC would not oppose the merger. The investigation looked at the merger's impact on the online news industry's competition and involved contacting numerous stakeholders. It was noted that the merger would most likely reduce competition in the domestic media market, but that it was not in breach of theCompetition and Consumer Act.The main point of divergence between the two business' assets was that Nine Entertainment's news assets provided mass market news coverage whereas Fairfax Media's news assets provided more specialist coverage.[24]

Despite the ACCC's ruling, there were a few stakeholders who voiced their concerns about the merger's impact on the Australian media industry's competitive landscape.[23]Union groups such as the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, and the Journalists' union warned the ACCC that the mega-cap takeover would threaten the editorial independence of Fairfax Media's portfolio newspaper companies. Former prime minister Paul Keating also voiced his criticisms labelling the ACCC's decision as "appalling", considering that a more concentrated media industry would reduce coverage of city-specific political issues.[25]

Features and operations

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Newspaper sections

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Within the AFR's daily newspaper, regularly scheduled sections include:[26]

  • World – news and analysis on global companies and the international business environment.
  • Chanticleer – the long-running business opinion column (begun July 1974) that looks into individual companies in-depth, analysing their operations, management and board of directors.[27]
  • Accounting & Consulting – Targeted at senior executives and management, this section lays out lateral personnel movements within the finance sector, recent company news, and key participants in the industry
  • Education – provides information regarding professional development, the education sector, and news regarding company training
  • Companies & Markets – this section features in-depth analysis of the Australian business environment including equity markets, debt markets and the M&A industry
  • Legal Affairs – targeted at lawyers, this section provides coverage of the legal industry: its trends and news about the top law firms in Australia
  • Property – this section provides analysis of the Australian property market: house prices, commercial properties, developers, REITS, and others. Each major capital city has its own journalism team covering the respective property markets.
  • Life & Leisure – this two-day weekly insert focuses on more leisurely topics including fashion, travel, social media, jewellery, etc.

Products and operations

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Across the AFR group, the team does not only publish newspapers. Its range of operations is listed below:

  • TheAustralian Financial Reviewdaily newspaper,founded in 1951, the paper aims to provide information regarding the Australian business landscape.
  • TheWeekend Edition,delivered on Saturday, covers important business topics as well as general news and leisure-focused topics.
  • Afr.com,theAFR'snews website, provides online access to a news database with topics including markets, politics, policy, property, and others.[28]
  • Sophisticated Traveller– Since 2004, this quarterly magazine has been targeting high net worth individuals, covering content regarding luxury travel.[29]
  • Australian Financial Review Magazine– Monthly inserted magazine providing content on high-profile business news, politics, fashion and luxury. The magazine was launched in 1995.[9]
  • BOSS- This magazine aims to deliver content to Australia's business seniors about company management, leadership and influential trends.
  • LUXURY– A quarterly magazine covering trends in the luxury industry including watches, jewellery, fashion, and others.

Financial Review Rich List

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TheFinancial Review Rich Listaims to compile an annual ranking of the wealthiest Australian citizens. The list was first published in theBRW Magazinein 1984.[30]Since its beginnings, the compilation of the list and its publishing have been taken over by theAFR,now being published annually in theAustralian Financial Review Magazineand on theafr.com.Along with the names of the richest people, the list explicates the person or family's net worth and provides a short summary on the business activities and sector they are engaged in. The valuations are conducted by utilising a mix of publicly available information and private consultations. In 2019, the cut-off for making the Rich List was $472m AUD. In 2020, the cut-off was raised to $540m AUD.[31]

Reporting

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Reporting stance

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During 1975 to 1983, whenThe Australianwidely articulated its political stance onconservativeliberalism,it had been noted that theAFRalso promotedneo-liberalismthrough its news coverage and editorials, exerting influence on the business sphere of Australia and its elitist readership base.[32]The newspaper has also been labelled as one of the propagators of radical liberalism during the 1970s–80s, shaping the policy debate surrounding market deregulation at that time.[32]This was in line with the overarching political stance of all Fairfax Holdings owned newspapers, includingThe Sydney Morning Herald,which in the 1970s was also right-leaning in its political views.[33]

In the wake of the1987 stock market crash,the Australian news media sector was blamed for overlooking corporate corruption and wrongdoings, while publishing mainly favourable news articles handed to them from corporate PR teams.[6]Also during this time,The NationalTimeswhich was Australia's leading financial investigative journalism newspaper, shut down after the stock market crash. Therefore, during the 2000s, following the financial market failures and economic downturn of the 1990s, theAFR'sreporting focus steered more towards business investigative journalism, scrutinising big corporations, government power and corruption.[6]This was viewed as theAFRmaking reparations for its lack of scrutiny over the corporate sector in the lead-up to the stock market crash.[citation needed]

One major factor that allowed theAFRto undertake deep corporate investigations was that it did not need advertising revenue to stay afloat – its cover price was sufficient. On the other hand, all other daily mastheads needed company advertising to stay profitable. This afforded theAFR'seditors the flexibility to pursue and publish news articles that shed a negative light on major companies without needing to be concerned about its financial impacts.

In the early 2010s, theAFR'spolitical stance has been labelled as neutral.[34]During the controversial 2013 tax debate regarding taxes for "extraordinary" profits generated by mining companies, major mastheads from regions with high mining interests had almost fourfold the number of negative articles compared to positive articles.The Australian,the biggest national daily, had a large number of both positive and negative articles, but had a limited number of neutral articles. Out of all the daily mastheads, theAFRpublished the most articles surrounding the tax debate and also the most number of neutral articles.[34]

Endorsements

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Election Endorsement
2010 Coalition
2013 Coalition
2016 Coalition
2019 Coalition
2022 Coalition

Notable reporting

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In November 2023, the AFR joined with theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists,Paper Trail Media[de]and 69 media partners includingDistributed Denial of Secretsand theOrganized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project(OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories[35][36]to produce the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime ofVladimir Putin,mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned.[37][38]Government officials including Cyprus presidentNikos Christodoulides[39]and European lawmakers[40]began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours,[41]calling for reforms and launching probes.[42][43]

Awards

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AFRhas won the "Gold Lizzy" for Best Title at "The Lizzies", aka the IT Journalism Awards, many times, including in 2019,[44]2021,[45]and 2022.[46]It has also won in other categories, including Best Business Coverage.[47][44][45]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"ABCs: Weekend nationals grow circulation as metro weekly newspapers continue to decline – Mumbrella".Mumbrella.17 February 2017.Retrieved25 May2017.
  2. ^abc SMH, AFR and The Age all report audience growth in NovemberMumbrella 2020
  3. ^AFR website
  4. ^ab"Fairfax Media Limited Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd Merger".Merger Market.Retrieved1 February2023.(subscription required)
  5. ^abDoyle H. (2001). "Australian Financial Review".InThe Oxford Companion to Australian History.Oxford University Press.
  6. ^abcCarson, A. (2014). "The political economy of the print media and the decline of corporate investigative journalism in Australia".Australian Journal of Political Science,49(4), pp.726–742.
  7. ^abGoot, M. (2015, November).Fifty years of the Australian,Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy,(157), 5+.
  8. ^abcNine for Brands (2020)."The Australian Financial Review Magazine"(PDF).Retrieved19 January2023.
  9. ^ab"Australian Financial Review Magazine marks ten years of its watch lift out".Mumbrella.2017.Retrieved19 January2023.
  10. ^"First full year since Nine purchase of Fairfax sees audience increases for SMH, The Age and Australian Financial Review".Roy Morgan. 6 February 2020.Retrieved23 February2021.
  11. ^Muck Rack."Australian Financial Review'".Retrieved19 January2023.
  12. ^Samios, Z. (2017)."NEWS: The AFR launches news app with cross device accessibility".Retrieved19 January2023.
  13. ^The Misfits Media Company (2016)."The Australian Financial Review Launched Universal App".Retrieved19 January2023.
  14. ^Henningham, J. (1996). "Journalists' perceptions of newspaper quality".Australian Journalism Review.18(1): 13–19.
  15. ^Jackson, S (30 November 2011)."Australian Financial Review lowers its paywall".The Australian.Retrieved19 January2023.
  16. ^Young, S. (2011). "The elite public sphere".How Australia Decides: Election Reporting and the Media.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–60.doi:10.1017/CBO9780511984778.004.ISBN9780521147071.
  17. ^abcCarson, A. (2015). "Behind the newspaper paywall – lessons in charging for online content: a comparative analysis of why Australian newspapers are stuck in the purgatorial space between digital and print".Media, Culture & Society.37(7): 1022–1041.doi:10.1177/0163443715591669.S2CID145226933.
  18. ^Burrowes, T. (2011)."A decade on, AFR has 6711 subscribers to its paywall".Mumbrella.Retrieved19 January2023.
  19. ^abMcDuling, J. (7 December 2018).What does the Nine-Fairfax merger mean?Sydney Morning Herald.
  20. ^Department of Intrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. (n.d.).Updating Australia's media laws.Canberra, Australia: Author.
  21. ^Dunckley, M. (7 May 2017).Fairfax Media confirms unsolicited TPG approachSydney Morning Herald.
  22. ^Harrison, T. (2018).Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd share price is up 15% on profit growth of 55%Motley Fool
  23. ^abDuke, J. (8 November 2018).Competition regulator gives green light to Nine-Fairfax mergerSydney Morning Herald
  24. ^ACCC will not oppose Nine-Fairfax mergerAustralia Competition & Consumer Commission. (2018).
  25. ^Ex-PM Paul Keating calls Nine, Fairfax merger 'appalling'SBS News8 November 2018
  26. ^Nine for BrandsFinancial Review. 2020
  27. ^Boyd, Tony (5 August 2021)."With gravitas and humour, Chanticleer tells the story behind the news".Australian Financial Review.Nine Entertainment.Retrieved9 July2022.The country's pre-eminent business column was born during a long lunch in Melbourne in the mid-1970s.
  28. ^Myllylahti, Merja. (2017). "What Content is Worth Locking Behind a Paywall? Digital news commodification in leading Australasian financial newspapers".Digital Journalism,5(4), 460–471, (Paywall site)
  29. ^'Oh So Frenchy' - Sophisticated Traveller 'Insider' Edition Revealed(15 February 2019).B&T Magazine.
  30. ^Stensholt, J., Tadros, E. (26 May 2017). Rich List 2017: the 15 names on every list since 1984.Australian Financial Review.Retrieved from[1]
  31. ^Bailey, M., Sprague, J. (30 October 2020).The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed.Australian Financial Review.>
  32. ^abMcknight, D. (2003)."A World Hungry for a New Philosophy": Rupert Murdoch and the rise of neo-liberalismJournalism Studies(London, England), 4(3), 347–358
  33. ^Tiffen, Rodney. (1987).Quality and Bias in the Australian Press: News Limited, Fairfax, and the Herald and Weekly Times.Australian Quarterly, 59(3-4), p. 329–329.
  34. ^abBoulus, P. (2014).The press and issue framing in the Australian mining tax debateAustralian Journal of Political Science,49(4), 694–710.
  35. ^"Inside Cyprus Confidential: The data-driven journalism that helped expose an island under Russian influence - ICIJ".14 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 30 November 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  36. ^"About the Cyprus Confidential investigation - ICIJ".14 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 21 November 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  37. ^"Cyprus Confidential: Leaked Roman Abramovich documents raise fresh questions for Chelsea FC: ICIJ-led investigation reveals how Mediterranean island ignores Russian atrocities and western sanctions to cash in on Putin's oligarchs".The Irish Times.15 November 2023.Retrieved15 November2023.
  38. ^"Cyprus Confidential - ICIJ".www.icij.org.14 November 2023.Retrieved14 November2023.
  39. ^"Cypriot president pledges government probe into Cyprus Confidential revelations - ICIJ".Icij.15 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 14 December 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  40. ^"Lawmakers call for EU crackdown after ICIJ's Cyprus Confidential revelations - ICIJ".23 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  41. ^"Cypriot president pledges government probe into Cyprus Confidential revelations - ICIJ".Icij.15 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 14 December 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  42. ^"Cyprus ignores Russian atrocities, Western sanctions to shield vast wealth of Putin allies - ICIJ".Icij.14 November 2023.Archivedfrom the original on 14 December 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  43. ^Solutions, BDigital Web."Finance Minister perturbed over 'Cyprus Confidential'".knews.com.cy.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2023.Retrieved24 December2023.
  44. ^ab"Winners 2019".IT Journalism Awards.1 January 1970.Retrieved14 September2024.
  45. ^ab"Winners 2021".IT Journalism Awards.Retrieved14 September2024.
  46. ^Daveson, Craig (23 October 2022)."CNET's Ryan and The Australian Financial Review collect Gold Lizzies".IT Journalism Awards.Retrieved14 September2024.
  47. ^"2024 Australian IT Journalism Awards Winners Announced".StreetInsider.com.25 March 2024.Retrieved14 September2024.
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