The front page of The Age on 12 December 2005
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner	Fairfax Media
Editor	Andrew Jaspan
Founded	1854
Political allegiance	Left-wing
Headquarters	250 Spencer Street, Melbourne, Australia
ISSN	0312-6307
Website: www.theage.com.au

The Age is a broadsheet daily newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Broadsheet is the largest of the various Newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches or more A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Age was founded by three Melbourne businessmen, the brothers John Cooke and Henry Cooke who had arrived from New Zealand in the 1840s, and Walter Powell. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island The first edition appeared on 17 October 1854. Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 1854 ( MDCCCLIV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year

The Age currently has an average weekday circulation of 196,250, increasing to 292,250 on Saturdays (in a city of 3. 8 million). The Sunday Age has a circulation of 194,750.

According to The Age, the paper currently has a Monday to Friday readership average of 658,000, reaching an average of 1,049,000 on Saturdays. The Sunday Age attracts an average of 666,000 readers.

The current editor is Andrew Jaspan. Andrew Jaspan, a British Journalist, was appointed in October 2004 as Editor-in-Chief of The Age, a Broadsheet daily newspaper

Contents 1 History 1.1 The Symes and The Age 1.2 The Modern Age 2 Ownership 3 Politics 4 Editors of The Age 4.1 Under David Syme 4.2 Under Geoffrey Syme 4.3 Under Oswald Syme 4.4 Recent editors 5 References 6 See also 7 External links 8 Further reading

History

The Symes and The Age

The venture was not initially a success, and in June 1856 the Cookes sold the paper to Ebenezer Syme, a Scottish-born businessman, and James McEwan, an ironmonger and founder of McEwans & Co, for 2,000 pounds at auction. Ebenezer Syme ( 1826 - March 13 1860) was a Scottish-Australian journalist Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The first edition under the new owners was on 17 June 1856. From its foundation the paper was self-consciously liberal in its politics: "aiming at a wide extension of the rights of free citizenship and a full development of representative institutions," and supporting "the removal of all restrictions upon freedom of commerce, freedom of religion and - to the utmost extent that is compatible with public morality - upon freedom of personal action. Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal Public morality refers to moral and ethical standards enforced in a society by law or police work or social pressure and applied to public life to the content of the "

Ebenezer Syme was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly shortly after buying The Age, and his brother David Syme soon came to dominate the paper, editorially and managerially. The Legislative Assembly, or lower house is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia David Syme ( October 2 1827 – February 14 1908) was an Scottish - Australian newspaper proprietor of The Age When Ebenezer died in 1860, David became editor-in-chief, a position he retained until his death in 1908, although a succession of editors did the day-to-day editorial work. In 1891 Syme bought out Ebenezer's heirs and McEwan's and became sole proprietor. He built up The Age into Victoria's leading newspaper. In circulation it soon overtook its rivals The Herald and The Argus, and by 1890 it was selling 100,000 copies a day, making it one of the world's most successful newspapers. The Argus was a morning daily Newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957.

Under Syme's control The Age exercised enormous political power in Victoria. It supported liberal politicians such as Graham Berry, George Higinbotham and George Turner, and other leading liberals such as Alfred Deakin and Charles Pearson furthered their careers as Age journalists. Sir Graham Berry, KCMG ( 28 August 1822 - 25 January 1904) Australian colonial politician was the 11th George Higinbotham ( 19 April 1826 – 31 December 1892) was a Politician and was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Sir George Turner, KCMG, PC ( 8 August 1851 - 12 August 1916) Australian politician was the 18th Premier Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919 Australian politician was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later second Prime Minister Syme was originally a free trader, but converted to protectionism through his belief that Victoria needed to develop its manufacturing industries behind tariff barriers. Free trade is a system in which the trade of goods and services between or within countries flows unhindered by government-imposed restrictions For the protectionist Australian political party from the 1880s to 1909 see Protectionist Party For other uses of this word see Tariff (disambiguation. A tariff is a tax imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary In the 1890s The Age was a leading supporter of Australian federation and of the White Australia policy. The federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South The White Australia policy is a term used to describe a collection of historical policies that intentionally restricted non-white Immigration to Australia from

After Syme's death the paper remained in the hands of his three sons, with his eldest son Herbert Syme becoming general manager until his death in 1939. Syme's will prevented the sale of any equity in the paper during his sons' lifetimes, an arrangement designed to protect family control but which had the effect of starving the paper of investment capital for 40 years. Under the management of Sir Geoffrey Syme (1908-42), and his chosen editors Gottlieb Schuler and Harold Campbell, The Age failed to modernise, and gradually lost market share to The Argus and to the tabloid The Sun News-Pictorial, although its classfied advertisement sections kept the paper profitable. Gottlieb Frederick Henry Schuler (1854 – 1926 was an Australian journalist Captain Sir Harold Campbell, GCVO DSO Royal Navy (1888-1969 was Equerry to the King George VI and then The Sun News-Pictorial, commonly known as The Sun, was a morning daily tabloid newspaper in Melbourne Australia established in 1922 and closed in 1990 By the 1940s the paper's circulation was smaller than it had been in 1900, and its political influence also declined. Although it remained more liberal than the extremely conservative Argus, it lost much of its distinct political identity.

The historian Sybil Nolan writes: "Accounts of The Age in these years generally suggest that the paper was second-rate, outdated in both its outlook and appearance. Walker described a newspaper which had fallen asleep in the embrace of the Liberal Party; "querulous," "doddery" and "turgid" are some of the epithets applied by other journalists. It is inevitably criticised not only for its increasing conservatism, but for its failure to keep pace with innovations in layout and editorial technique so dramatically demonstrated in papers like The Sun News-Pictorial and The Herald. "

In 1942 David Syme's last surviving son, Oswald Syme, took over the paper. He modernised the paper's appearance and standards of news coverage (removing classified advertisements from the front page and introducing photographs, long after other papers had done so). In 1948, convinced the paper needed outside capital, he persuaded the courts to overturn his father's will and floated David Syme and Co. as a public company, selling 400,000 pounds worth of shares, enabling a badly needed technical modernisation of the newspaper's production. A takeover attempt by the Fairfax family, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), was beaten off. Fairfax Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies The Sydney Morning Herald ( SMH) is a daily Broadsheet Newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia This new lease on life allowed The Age to recover commercially, and in 1957 it received a great boost when The Argus ceased publication.

The Modern Age

Oswald Syme retired in 1964, and his grandson Ranald Macdonald became chairman of the company. He was the first chairman to hand over full control of the paper to a professional editor from outside the Syme family. This was Graham Perkin, appointed in 1966, who radically changed the paper's format and shifted its editorial line from the rather conservative liberalism of the Symes to a new "left liberalism" characterised by attention to issues such as race, gender and the environment, and opposition to White Australia and the death penalty. Edwin Graham Perkin ( 16 December 1929 &ndash 16 October 1975) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. The Liberal Premier of Victoria, Henry Bolte, called The Age "that pinko rag," a view conservatives have maintained ever since. The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party. See Premiers of the Australian states for a description and history of the office of Premier Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG ( 20 May, 1908 - 4 January, 1990) Australian politician was the 38th and longest serving Former editor Michael Gawenda in his book American Notebook wrote that the "default position of most journalists at The Age was on the political Left. ". ^[1]

Perkin's editorship coincided with Gough Whitlam's reforms of the Australian Labor Party, and The Age became a key supporter of the Whitlam government which came to power in 1972. Events 308 - The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC (born 11 July 1916 known as Gough Whitlam (ˈɡɒf goff is an Australian former politician and 21st Contrary to subsequent mythology, however, The Age was not an uncritical supporter of Whitlam, and played a leading role in exposing the Loans Affair, one of the scandals which contributed to the demise of the Whitlam government. The Loans Affair, also called the Khemlani Affair, is the name given to the political scandal involving the Whitlam Government of Australia in 1975 in

After Perkins's early death in 1975 The Age returned to a more moderate liberal position. Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It supported Malcolm Fraser's Liberal government in its early years, but after 1980 became increasingly critical and was a leading supporter of Bob Hawke's reforming government after 1983. John Malcolm Fraser, AC, CH (born 21 May 1930 is an Australian Liberal politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. Robert James Lee (Bob Hawke, AC (born 9 December 1929 was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia and longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) But from the 1970s the political influence of The Age, as with other broadsheet newspapers, derived less from what it said in its editorial columns (which relatively few people read) than from the opinions expressed by journalists, cartoonists, feature writers and guest columnists. The Age has always kept a stable of leading editorial cartoonists, notably Les Tanner, Bruce Petty, Ron Tandberg and Michael Leunig. Les Tanner ( 15 June 1927 &ndash 23 July 2001) was an Australian Cartoonist and Journalist. Bruce Petty ( Melbourne, Victoria Australia, 1929 -) is one of Australia ’s best known political satirists and Cartoonists ref name="profile"> Born in 1943, Ron Tandberg is an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist who has contributed to The Age newspaper since 1972 Michael Leunig (born 2 June 1945) often referred to as Leunig, is an Australian Cartoonist.

In 1966 Macdonald took the fateful step of allowing the Fairfaxes to acquire a stake in the paper, although an agreement was signed guaranteeing the editorial independence of The Age. Fairfax Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies Editorial independence is the freedom of editors to make decisions without interference from the owners of a publication In 1972 Fairfax bought a majority of David Syme shares, and in 1983 bought out all the remaining shares. Fairfax Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies David Syme and Co. became a subsidiary of John Fairfax and Co. Macdonald was denounced as a traitor by the remaining members of the Syme family (who nevertheless accepted Fairfax's generous offer for their shares), but he argued that The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) were natural partners and that the greater resources of the Fairfax group would enable The Age to remain competitive. The Sydney Morning Herald ( SMH) is a daily Broadsheet Newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia By the 1980s a new competitor had appeared in Rupert Murdoch's national daily The Australian. is gay Bold text' Keith Rupert Murdoch', AC, KCSG (born Melbourne, March 11 1931 usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-American The Australian, also referred to as The Oz, is a Broadsheet Newspaper published in Australia Monday through Saturday each In 1999 David Syme and Co. became The Age Company Ltd as part of John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. , finally ending the Syme connection.

The Age was published from offices in Collins St until 1969, when it moved to its current headquarters at 250 Spencer St (hence the nickname "The Spencer Street Soviet" favoured by some critics). Recently The Age has opened a new printing centre at Tullamarine. Tullamarine is a suburb located 17km north of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Currently there are two editions of The Age printed nightly. The NAA edition, for interstate and country Victorian readers and the MEA edition, for metropolitan areas. These two editions are printed in three separate editions, the earliest for country and interstate readers, the second edition for metropolitan and the final late edition THA, also for metropolitan areas carrying late or breaking stories not covered in the first two editions.

Friday's edition of the newspaper now includes a racing liftout which includes extended form and analysis for Saturday's major race meetings.

Like its Fairfax stablemate The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), the Age announced in early 2007 that it would be moving from a broadsheet format to the smaller Berliner size, in the footsteps of The Guardian and The Courier-Mail. Fairfax Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies The Sydney Morning Herald ( SMH) is a daily Broadsheet Newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. The Courier-Mail is a daily Newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. . ^[2] Both the Age and the Herald dumped these plans later in the year without explanation, to the amusement of The Australian's Chris Mitchell, who called the about-face "a bit embarrassing". The Australian, also referred to as The Oz, is a Broadsheet Newspaper published in Australia Monday through Saturday each Chris Mitchell is an Australian journalist and is editor-in-chief of The Australian. ^[3]

Ownership

In 1972 Fairfax bought a majority of David Syme shares, and in 1983 bought out all the remaining shares. Fairfax Media Limited, is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies

Since the 1980s The Age, despite the loss of its corporate independence, has remained a successful and influential newspaper. Under editors such as Creighton Burns and Michael Gawenda, it has attracted a range of high quality contributors. Creighton Lee Burns AO (19 March 1925 &ndash 19 January 2008 was an Australian journalist and academic who was editor-in-chief of The Age newspaper Michael Gawenda is an Australian journalist and was editor of The Age from 1997 to 2004 The research efforts of the "Age Insight" team have broken a number of major stories. Its arts and lifestyle content - increasingly important in all newspapers as the leading role in news coverage is lost to television and the internet - is generally regarded as comprehensive. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Its sports journalism is also extensive, although it does not try to compete with The Herald Sun in volume of sports coverage. The Herald Sun is a morning Tabloid Newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia Its classified advertising section remains the foundation of its business model.

Nevertheless The Age is under challenge, as are all major daily newspapers, from new trends in media. Its dependence on classified advertising for a large part of its revenue makes vulnerable to the growth of online classified alternatives such as Seek, realestate.com.au and eBay, plus various offerings from Telstra subsidiary Sensis such as The Trading Post. realestatecomau Ltd and its subsidiary companies known as the REA Group, make up a global online real estate Advertising company headquartered in Melbourne eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and Telstra or Telstra Corporation (often abbreviated as Telstra Corp) () is an Australian Telecommunications and media company formerly The Sydney media magnate Kerry Packer, now deceased, long considered to be interested in acquiring Fairfax, was reportedly no longer interested because of this and had extensively invested in online competitors of The Age. Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC (17 December 1937 &ndash 26 December 2005 son of Sir Frank Packer, was an Australian publishing media and gaming tycoon

Politics

In 2004 Gawenda was succeeded as editor by British journalist Andrew Jaspan. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Andrew Jaspan, a British Journalist, was appointed in October 2004 as Editor-in-Chief of The Age, a Broadsheet daily newspaper Jaspan aroused controversy by initially not appearing to know that The Age was published in Melbourne, sacking Gerard Henderson, a prominent conservative columnist, from the paper and by making remarks critical of Douglas Wood, an Australian who was held hostage and tortured in Iraq. Gerard Henderson is an Australian newspaper columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian. Douglas Wood may refer to Douglas Wood (Producer, animation producer Douglas Wood (naturalist, naturalist Douglas Wood For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Jaspan accused Wood on ABC radio of being boorish and coarse for speaking harshly about those who kidnapped and tortured him. ^[4]

The generally left-wing Age is frequently compared with Britain's leftist Guardian newspaper. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ^[5] Former Age columnist Gerard Henderson is one of many to describe it as "The Guardian on the Yarra" [1]. Gerard Henderson is an Australian newspaper columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group.

Following the appointment of Andrew Jaspan as editor, The Age has taken a prominent campaigning role in relation to some issues, for example by launching a campaign Free David Hicks (a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay) in February 2007, and in relation to global warming

According to the Guardian newspaper, former Fairfax chief executive Fred Hilmer wrote in his memoirs that "He confessed that he struggled to cope with a left-leaning editorial culture at papers such as the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and The Age, and was surprised that journalists saw themselves as advocates rather than simply reporters. Andrew Jaspan, a British Journalist, was appointed in October 2004 as Editor-in-Chief of The Age, a Broadsheet daily newspaper David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975 is an Australian who undertook combat training in Al Qaeda -linked camps and served with the ruling Taliban The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is a controversial United States Detention center operated by Joint Task Force Guantanamo since 2002 in Guantanamo The Sydney Morning Herald ( SMH) is a daily Broadsheet Newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia "^[6] Hilmer said "Fairfax's default position was to turn left and be agenda-driven. . . Journalists often conducted campaigns where they persisted in covering stories long after readers had lost interest. "^[7]

Editors of The Age

• T. L. Bright and David Blair 1854–56
• Ebenezer Syme 1856–60

Under David Syme

• George Smith 1860–67
• James Harrison 1867–72
• Arthur Windsor 1872–1900
• Gottlieb Schuler 1900–08

Under Geoffrey Syme

• Gottlieb Schuler 1908–26
• Len Briggs 1926–39
• Harold Campbell 1939–42

Under Oswald Syme

• Harold Campbell 1942–59
• Keith Sinclair 1959–66

Recent editors

• Graham Perkin 1966–75
• Les Carlyon 1975–76
• Greg Taylor 1976–79
• Michael Davie 1979–81
• Creighton Burns 1981–89
• Mike Smith 1989–92
• Alan Kohler 1992–95
• Bruce Guthrie 1995–97
• Michael Gawenda 1997–2004
• Andrew Jaspan 2004–

References

See also

• List of newspapers in Australia
• Australian Journalism

External links

• The Age website
• History of The Age since 1854
• Half a century of obscurity (Sybil Nolan on the history of The Age)
• "The Age: A part of Victoria for over 147 years"
• The Age's new print centre
• "Gerard Henderson: How I was sacked by The Age" (critique originally published by Crikey)

Further reading

• C. This is a list of Australian newspapers National National daily newspapers The Australian Broadsheet conservative-leaning The professional practice of Journalism in Australia varies from international standards in areas as diverse as legal freedoms and editorial practices Crikey is an independent Australian electronic magazine comprising an open access website and an email newsletter available to subscribers E. Sayers, David Syme, Cheshire 1965
• Don Hauser, The Printers of the Streets and Lanes Of Melbourne (1837 - 1975) Nondescript Press, Melbourne 2006

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