Does any one remember the Melbourne Argus?
It had a different size between Sun and age!!
Maurie10

Some interesting and diverse material included there, cw. But gee, the informed opinions of news professionals like you and ‘DPEXPERT’ on the matter would be most instructive. [There would be a friendly ‘wink’ here if it worked!!!!]

I’m reasonably sure that Eric Beecher, the widely experienced print media editor/owner, and Bruce Guthrie, the highly respected print editor, have both expressed the view that a tabloid format would be a positive development for “The Age”.

I’ve just been re-reading some old course material, which makes the obvious but nonetheless pertinent point that “….getting to know about people and what they need or want is the primary task of the mass media so that each medium can be tailored for its audience”. Perhaps the movers and shakers at Fairfax are now making a concerted effort to tailor the newspapers size to reflect the ‘needs and wants’ of the present and potential readership – well most of it! . After many segmented getting-to-know-the-readers-better surveys no doubt.

Purely anecdotally, amongst the many regular ‘Age’ readers I know, not one considers the move to a tabloid-like format anything but positive. Again, purely anecdotally, there are many I know who aren’t regular readers because they find the newspaper, quite simply, cumbersome. Who knows, maybe Stephen will expand his readership habits to include more than just Thursdays (a must-buy day!) and Saturdays when the new format takes effect. [Imagine ‘smiley’ here!!!]

I really can’t see much downside, providing the conversion costs are reasonable, (let’s face it most of the supplements are in tabloid format now anyway) the ratio of news content to pictures/advertising remains pretty much the same and the newspapers repute isn’t adversely affected. That it retains its news value, I suppose.

Oh, ‘Maurie10’, the ‘Argus’ was way before my time, but I gather three daily papers in the small Melbourne market of the period was always going to be a problem. Its demise might just have been a case of ‘natural selection’ at work.

I have been a long time Age reader and I'm all for the smaller version. The older I get the harder I find it to manage the broadsheet. My newsagent says its the most common complaint he gets. Bring on Mini Age I say.

My concern is the content will change. The push for profit will take over and we will get less news and opinion and more advertising. It will also be intriguing to see how they handle the classifieds. They are bulky as part of the broadsheet, what will it be like when it is in a form of tabloid.

I am concerned about the shift that is already taking place to dumb-down The Age. Over the past twelve months I've noticed how the headlines have become more sensationalist and the lead stories more tabloid in nature. I am worried that if we are not careful we will end-up with two daily dumbed-down tabloids in this fair city.

Hi Extulit,

The argus went under back about in the fifties or late forties.
I met a gentleman who told me he had been an exec at the Argus and what happened was that their supply of paper was cut off.
He told me that the press which was the first to print colour in Melbourne, was brocken up part was sent to India, and other countries.
I seem to gather in my memory that The Herald and Weekly Times had some interest in the paper mill that supplied the paper and that the Argus had let their stock run so low that using what I think is called just in time found it wasn't!
The name of the Exec was Ivan Brander, I met him at a little general store at Fiveways out of Cranbourne.
Regards,
Maurie10