Bruce Guthrie on 'A Requiem for Newspapers'

Bruce Guthrie has been editor of The Sunday Age, The Age, Who Weekly, the Weekend Australian Magazine and Wish. His most recent appointment, in 2007, was as editor-in-chief of the Herald-Sun – a role he filled until his unexpected departure in November 2008, which he recounts in his recent book Man Bites Murdoch.

Guthrie assesses the future of a print newspaper industry no longer fed by the revenue of classified pages – once known as ‘rivers of gold’. Although he believes newspapers will survive, their survival will be achieved “under very different cost and revenue structures”.

Speaking on his book, he launches broadsides at his former employer over Hackergate (which ‘exemplifies the worst of News Limited’) and what may be agenda-driven attacks on public figures including himself, Cate Blanchett and Dick Smith. Guthrie cites the Melbourne Press Club’s failure to acknowledge his book, citing threats by the Herald and Weekly Times to withdraw its funding for the association, as an example of what is wrong with the Australian media.