The Canberra Times

The Canberra Times is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. Founded in 1926, the newspaper converted from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1956.

The Canberra Times
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatCompact
Owner(s)Australian Community Media
EditorJohn-Paul Moloney
Founded1926 (1926)
Headquarters9 Pirie Street, Fyshwick, ACT
OCLC number220340116
Websitewww.canberratimes.com.au
The Canberra Times and The Chronicle headquarters at Fyshwick

History

The Canberra Times was launched in 1926 by Thomas Shakespeare along with his oldest son Arthur Shakespeare and two younger sons Christopher and James.[1] The newspaper's headquarters were originally located in the Civic retail precinct, in Cooyong Street and Mort Street, in blocks bought by Thomas Shakespeare in the first sale of Canberra leases in 1924.[2]

The newspaper's first issue was published on 3 September 1926.[2] It was the second paper to be printed in the city, the first being The Federal Capital Pioneer.[3][4] Between September 1926 and February 1928, the newspaper was a weekly issue. The first daily issue was 28 February 1928.[2] In June 1956, The Canberra Times converted from broadsheet to tabloid format.[5]

Arthur Shakespeare sold the paper to John Fairfax Ltd in 1964,[2] on the condition that it continue to advocate for Canberra. Soon after, in July 1964, the format was switched back to broadsheet and printing was moved to Fairfax's newly installed press in Fyshwick.[5] Offices remained open in the civic retail precinct until April 1987 when The Canberra Times moved its entire operation to the new office of The Federal Capital Press of Australia, also in Fyshwick.[6]

The paper was later sold to Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, which in turn sold it to Kerry Stokes in 1989 for $110 million. Rural Press Limited bought the paper from Stokes in 1998 for $160 million. The Times rejoined the Fairfax stable in 2007 when Rural Press merged with Fairfax. The paper first went online on 31 March 1997.

In 2008, The Canberra Times printed a formal apology[7] after the paper published an essay in which Irfan Yusuf falsely accused American historian Daniel Pipes of suggesting that Muslims deserved to be slaughtered as Jews were during the Holocaust.[8][9]

On 17 October 2008, The Canberra Times was distributed with a sticker advertising the ACT Labor Party on the front page. Complaints about the sticker prompted the general manager, Ken Nichols, to issue an explanation.[10]

In October 2013, Fairfax Media announced that The Canberra Times would be restructured to join the Australian Community Media Group of regional, agricultural and community newspapers, shifting from the metropolitan news division of Fairfax.[11][12] A new editorial leadership team was appointed in November 2015, with Grant Newton as editor of the newspaper and Scott Hannaford as deputy editor and news director.[13]

In March 2016, staff at the newspaper were told there would be a restructure at The Canberra Times and that the paper would move from a broadsheet format to a tabloid.[14] Fairfax Media also announced they would be cutting 12 jobs from the newspaper's staff.[15]

Notable staff

The paper's editors have included Jack Waterford and Michelle Grattan (1993–95), the first female editor of a metropolitan daily newspaper in Australia. A recent editor-in-chief, Peter Fray, left in January 2009 to edit The Sydney Morning Herald. He was succeeded by Rod Quinn, who announced the formation of a new senior editorial team in 2012.[16]

Editorial cartoonists have included Geoff Pryor, David Pope and Pat Campbell.

See also

References
  1. Waterford, Jack (3 March 2013). "History of a paper anniversary". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013.
  2. Clayton, C.J. (24 April 1987). "Our first issue was in 1926". The Canberra Times. p. 2 S.
  3. "ACT Heritage Library Newspaper Holdings". Libraries ACT. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  4. "Federal Capital Pioneer (Canberra, ACT : 1924 - 1926)". Trove. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  5. Kirkpatrick, Rod, Press timeline: Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011, National Library of Australia, archived from the original on 1 August 2015
  6. "Our move to Fyshwick". The Canberra Times. 24 April 1987. p. 1 S.
  7. "Apology to Daniel Pipes" Archived 17 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Canberra Times, 13 September 2008
  8. Irfan Yusuf, "Justice the remedy required to help Bosnia heal", The Canberra Times, 18 August 2008
  9. Irfan Yusuf Apologizes to Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, 17 September 2008
  10. "Sticker ads separate to editorial content". The Canberra Times, 17 October 2008. Archived 17 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Dyett, Kathleen (16 October 2013). "Restructure at The Canberra Times newspaper". ABC News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  12. Jackson, Sally (16 October 2013). "Canberra Times no longer a metro". The Australian. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  13. "New editor and deputy editor announced for The Canberra Times as audience grows". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. 6 November 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016.
  14. "Canberra Times to shed jobs in move to new format". Australian Broadcasting Commission. 31 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016.
  15. Ward, Miranda (31 March 2016). "Canberra Times goes compact; Fairfax Media to cut 12 full-time editorial positions across ACT". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  16. The Canberra Times unveils new senior editorial team, The Canberra Times, 8 September 2012. Accessed 31 December 2014

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.