The West Australian

• 1. The First Ink On Paper

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  On the 5th of January 1833, a four-page weekly appeared in Perth. Charles Macfaull, the local postmaster, edited and owned this first edition. It was called The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal. The paper changed its publication day from Saturdays to Fridays in 1864. A new name arrived on the 7th of October 1864 when it became The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Times. Arthur Shenton published it until March 1871. Joseph Mitchell took over for six months before M. Shenton held the reins until June 1874. A syndicate bought the title in September 1874 and increased output to two editions per week. The name shifted again on the 18th of November 1879 to become The West Australian. Production grew to three editions weekly by October 1883. Two years later, the paper began daily publication. Rural railway development in the early 1900s helped deliver copies beyond settled areas.

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• 2. Ownership Chains And Monopoly

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  West Australian Newspapers Holdings listed shares on the Australian Securities Exchange on the 9th of January 1992. An oversubscribed public offering raised $185 million for the company. Management fees of $217,000 and underwriting costs of $1.9 million went to firms linked to directors John Poynton and J. H. Nickson. Robert Holmes à Court's Bell Group acquired the paper in 1987 after Herald & Weekly Times sold it. Alan Bond gained control of Bell Group through Bond Corporation the following year. The collapse of Bond Corporation ended that ownership structure quickly. West Australian Newspapers Holdings purchased the paper from receivers and floated it publicly. Seven Media Group merged with the holding company in April 2011 to form Seven West Media. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission approved buying The Sunday Times in September 2015. Finalization of the deal including PerthNow was announced on the 8th of November 2016. SWM acquired Community Newspaper Group in May 2019 adding thirteen titles to its suite. All community websites moved onto the PerthNow platform by June 2019.

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• 3. Political Shifts And Endorsements

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  An editorial published on the 25th of April 2022 claimed the newspaper was economically conservative but socially progressive. From 1922 to 1969, every federal election endorsement went to the conservative Coalition. The March 2017 state election saw an endorsement for Labor leader Mark McGowan over Liberal-National premier Colin Barnett. The paper endorsed the Coalition at the 2019 federal election and Labor at the 2021 state election. Support returned to the Coalition for the 2022 federal election. During the pandemic, the paper backed McGowan until the 20th of January 2022. That date marked a decision to delay reopening interstate borders. Seven West Media Chairman Kerry Stokes was overseas and locked out of the state. The newspaper became highly critical of McGowan's response after that point. Former prime minister Bob Hawke called the paper a disgrace to reasonable objective journalism in February 2005. Academic Peter van Onselen found ten pro-Opposition front-page headlines before the 2005 state election with no pro-Government ones.

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• 4. Relocations And Digital Moves

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  The paper moved to Newspaper House on St Georges Terrace in Perth in 1933. This building served as office and publishing plant for more than fifty years. Staff vacated the premises in the mid-1980s for the Westralia Square redevelopment project. Editorial operations temporarily relocated to a nearby office building while the heritage site sat vacant. Printing presses moved to Osborne Park in 1988 for larger modern accommodation. Editorial staff followed them there in 1998. News gathering integrated with Seven News Perth operations at the Osborne Park facility. SWM publishes two websites from this location including thewest.com.au and PerthNow. The online version of the daily newspaper is available only to subscribers. Some website content went behind a subscription paywall starting in June 2019. A Fokker 27 aircraft delivered newspapers nightly to northern Western Australia during the mid-1990s.

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• 5. Circulation Drops And Profits

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  Average weekday circulation fell from 157,000 copies to 145,000 copies. Weekend editions averaged 241,000 copies down from 258,000. Profit dropped nearly 25% by June 2016 according to audited figures. Cost-saving measures included staff redundancies due to poor performance. Print circulation claims stated readership across print and online platforms reached 1.8 million per month. Audited cross-platform readership for The West and The Sunday Times combined hit 4.1 million per month in 2021. February 2022 saw growth announced to 4.5 million per month by chief executive Maryna Fewster. This figure potentially duplicated counts from subsidiary websites like PerthNow. Printed editions stopped appearing in retail outlets north of Broome on the 8th of December 2014. Delivery costs made distribution to towns such as Derby and Kununurra too expensive.

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• 6. Disputes And Legal Battles

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  The first book published in Western Australia was Report of the Late Trial for Libel!!! Clarke versus MacFaul released in Fremantle in 1835. Captain Clark sued editor Charles Macfaull over accusations of incompetence and impugned character. The court awarded damages of £27 to the captain despite a refused apology letter. Macfaull maintained his reputation though resources were significantly reduced by the verdict. Attorney-general Jim McGinty called the newspaper the nation's most inaccurate and dishonest newspaper in May 2007. He attacked editor Paul Armstrong personally suggesting the board sack him. Premier Alan Carpenter virulently attacked Armstrong after he dismissed McGinty's comments. The government continued to denigrate the paper until its defeat at the 2008 election. On the 27th of May 2022, the paper published a special wraparound titled Marawar Boodjara bilingually in Noongar and English. Resident linguist Alison Nannup helped create this edition during National Reconciliation Week. The prime minister praised the bilingual front cover which repeated on the 28th of May 2023.

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