The tabloid format of The Canberra Times, Canberra's only daily newspaper was announced and produced in May 2000, a change from the large broadsheet paper. It was touted that it would be a 'serious tabloid.' But the tabloid was only introduced for the Sunday edition!
The phrase ‘serious tabloid’ is an oxymoron – a figure of speech in which contradictory ideas are combined. To my mind, there has never been a serious tabloid in Australia. Tabloids, historically, have been ‘entertainment’ newspapers. They have big headings and short stories.
The Canberra Times advocated, and delivered, 36 percent more space, devoted to lifestyle, news and sport. Is it any better? Better than what? With only one newspaper in Canberra, there is no local competition. There is, however, some competition from Sydney newspapers which continue to sell well on weekends.
The Canberra Times is not a great newspaper by any standard; not even a 'good' newspaper. My concern with the newspaper is mainly that local and international news content is sparse and not well-written - certainly not probing or informative enough. Some days the paper is so thin that you can floss your teeth with it. However, it does convey the local news – and you don’t get that in the Sydney papers.
That leads me to another controversial debate over The Canberra Times. There is talk among locals and interstaters of the schizophrenia within The Canberra Times – that is, whether it is, or should be, a local newspaper for Canberrans or a national newspaper for Australians. Canberra is, after all, the nation's capital. Many people argue that a newspaper published in the nation’s capital should be for the entire nation. Not so says the editor. The editor maintains that it is and always will be a Canberra newspaper.
The editor wrote: “We exist to serve the needs of the people of Canberra … But Canberran readers are closely interested and involved in regional and national affairs, and in international affairs too. In catering for that appetite, we are simply serving our readers.” Hence, written underneath the newspaper's title is its motto: ‘to serve the national city and through it the nation’.
The phrase ‘serious tabloid’ is an oxymoron – a figure of speech in which contradictory ideas are combined. To my mind, there has never been a serious tabloid in Australia. Tabloids, historically, have been ‘entertainment’ newspapers. They have big headings and short stories.
The Canberra Times advocated, and delivered, 36 percent more space, devoted to lifestyle, news and sport. Is it any better? Better than what? With only one newspaper in Canberra, there is no local competition. There is, however, some competition from Sydney newspapers which continue to sell well on weekends.
The Canberra Times is not a great newspaper by any standard; not even a 'good' newspaper. My concern with the newspaper is mainly that local and international news content is sparse and not well-written - certainly not probing or informative enough. Some days the paper is so thin that you can floss your teeth with it. However, it does convey the local news – and you don’t get that in the Sydney papers.
That leads me to another controversial debate over The Canberra Times. There is talk among locals and interstaters of the schizophrenia within The Canberra Times – that is, whether it is, or should be, a local newspaper for Canberrans or a national newspaper for Australians. Canberra is, after all, the nation's capital. Many people argue that a newspaper published in the nation’s capital should be for the entire nation. Not so says the editor. The editor maintains that it is and always will be a Canberra newspaper.
The editor wrote: “We exist to serve the needs of the people of Canberra … But Canberran readers are closely interested and involved in regional and national affairs, and in international affairs too. In catering for that appetite, we are simply serving our readers.” Hence, written underneath the newspaper's title is its motto: ‘to serve the national city and through it the nation’.
The Canberra Times is not a nation's paper to challenge the global reputation of national newspapers such as The Washington Post, Le Monde, or The Irish Times. To satiate my mind, challenge my knowledge, and inform me of local, national and international news, the Canberra Times needs to get really serious, tabloid or not.
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