Writing at the New Matilda website, comedian and media personality Wendy Harmer talks about newsagents:
You only have to live in one of Australia’s regional towns to understand how vital diversity in our media really is.
The offerings at most newsagents — if the town still has one — are paltry. A copy of The Australian; an out-of date metro title like The Age or Daily Telegraph and a weekly local paper are usually what’s on offer.
I am not sure how many regional newsagencies Wendy Harmey has visited or how recently. I suspect not that many. A typical regional newsagency has the current newspaper(s) from the nearest capital city. If may have newspapers from other capitals depending on customer interest. It will also usually have around 1,000 magazine titles on all manner of topics. That’s some diversity
Harmer’s piece is really a promotional piece for the New Matilda website. Fair enough, they can promote their site how they like. They should not, however, do it by talking down newsagents who play a vital role in delivering local access to a diverse selection of print media products.
i am 2 hours from sydney and i have todays newspapers delivered before i open the shop to sell todays newspapers and magazines at 05:30am every day
im sure there are people further away from their capital that have a full range of print media for sale before wendy gets out of bed on the wrong side again today
I have not seen Wendy in our Newsagency
LOL.
i have never heard of her anyway so her opinion counts for nothing
Ignorance is bliss.
Probably explains why Wendy Harmer looks so happy.
Sorry, Off Topic.
Shaun S
Any damage to your Mums place in G’ver ?
Mum lives in G’ver and missed the storm by about 300/400 metres
Max , no her place is fine , but same same as your mums place they just missed out as well thank god . it was all happening just down the road
A disappointing piece Mark, you can be fairer than that. Wendy Harmer’s article is about the lack of independently owned regional and rural media (radio, print, television) which is probably why she called it We Need More Voices in the National Debate.
http://www.newmatilda.com for those who haven’t read it.
Yes Istvan Wendy’s comment about regional newsagencies and what they carry is disappointing. I have no quarrel with the rest of the piece or New Matilda. Wendy used a poor hook for her piece.
http://newmatilda.com/2012/03/19/we-need-more-voices-national-debate
I think it was harsh, I also believe she has mixed up Regional with Country / Rural.
No matter I am sure the 100’s of Communities that Wendy visited to make her assessment would disagree, they appreciate having a Newsagent which by the way sells much more than Printed products.
I cannot disagree with her comment
“Even before the internet began eating at newspaper and magazine circulation, we were a long way down the path of media concentration that presented a very narrow view of what constituted “news” and, subsequently, the silencing of our diverse voices”
Is she related to Mark Day & Bill Shorten?
Pity she didnt enquire as to why the age etc were out of date, and she might learn about the distribution system within Australia.
When my customers are expecting todays
“Age” and it runs a day behind, at least they ask and allow me the opportunity to explain the transporting situation from interstate.
right off topic mark but is there a footy tipping comp this year