Fairfax desperately needs new blood

She is now the largest shareholder in Fairfax. But for some reason Gina Rinehart is being denied the two seats on the board to which she is clearly entitled As if it were an amoeba, the board is duplicating itself. Appointing grey directors who have no experience in running newspapers and who are certainly not entrepreneurs. For years people have been telling me how they have stopped buying The Sydney Morning Herald or The Age. What turns them off is the obvious left-wing bias the newspapers display This stands out especially in the selection of letters to the editor. In the editorial pages - and only there - these once proud journals of record were in past times the voice of what Menzies called the forgotten people. Too often today they mix news and comment into a boring and predictable left wing cocktail. (Not that there aren’t some very fine journalists still there) The present leadership of Fairfax has resulted in the loss of 60% of share value.

The circulations of all the mastheads fallen significantly.

They've increased the subscription price - without telling some subscribers they are losing valuable discounts. They are even thinking of closing down the Mondays to Fridays print versions of the newspapers.

Going digital Monday to Friday Of course proprietors should have a say in the running of newspapers. The best newspapers were usually those where the strong proprietor – just think of the great Fairfax, Packer, Murdoch families. Fleet Street in its heyday was replete with strong opinionated media proprietors – press lords. Strong proprietors are a very effective check and balance in the complicated world that is the production of a newspaper. But of course just as journalists must behave ethically, so must proprietors. And most did. The board needs flesh blood. Desperately. Gina Rinehart is obviously that person.