Brisbane’s only-newspaper, The Courier-Mail, yesterday celebrated its 150 years of publication. It was first known as the Moreton Bay Courier. Years later, when newspapers business thrived in Australia, there were two major newspapers in Brisbane. The other one was called the Daily Mail. Due to the small Australian market, the two newspapers merged and became the name it is now known.
The Courier-Mail of yesterday (weekend edition 14-15 May 2011) with a special booklet celebrating 150 years
Inside the special booklet, you’ll find the first page of The Courier printed on Tuesday, 14 May 1861. Back then, all newspapers in Australia were printed in broadsheet format. Five years ago, the newspaper shrank its size to tabloid – although News Ltd Queensland prefers the term ‘compact’.
During an MSTU1000 tutorial on ‘The Press’ a few months back, my tutor Dr Burns told that Australia has the highest rate of magazine-readership in the world. It is no wonder you’ll find many magazine-style publication inserted in today’s Australian newspapers, including The Courier-Mail. The weekend edition of today’s Courier-Mail, for example, also consists of etc, CarsGuide, CareerOne, Weekend Shopper, Property and QWeekend.
As technology evolves, so does newspapers forced to follow the tide of change. Courier-Mail has launched its iPad edition in line with other News Ltd’s tabloid mastheads (Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Melbourne’s Herald Sun and Adelaide’s Advertiser). Of course, the shrinking size was also in line with other publications (not sure whether this includes other mastheads e.g. Tasmania’s The Mercury and Darwin’s NT News).
P.S.: Last year, a tutor of mine told her class that the ‘compact’ Courier-Mail has also led to low-brow journalism. Whether that’s true or not, it’s another story.
Plus, during MSTU1000 lecture on ‘The Press’, John Grey, online editor of Courier-Mail, revealed that in the future the paper will be available in five different formats (iPhone app, iPad app, print, online and I forgot the last one).
He said that newspapers still rely its income from the print, not online.
So, are you still buying a newspaper? We can have a long discussion on my question.
EDITED for spelling check.
Apa Kabar Bram 