They pushed for women to get the vote in Australia’s national elections. They brought down a central bank board member. And they helped convict a state official.

The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and their sister publications at Fairfax Media have been among the most powerful voices in Australia for more than 150 years, shaping public opinion on politics, exposing shady business practices and targeting vast criminal operations. Once mocked as a “Granny” for its cautious, worldly perspective, The Herald long ago embraced the reputation and the nickname.

But Fairfax’s newspapers now face a diminished future, with company executives even discussing whether to stop printing The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on weekdays. If they do, it would signal a new low in the decline of the global newspaper business, the radical retreat of centuries-old, mainstream metropolitan newspapers with national influence.

The prospect has dismayed many Australians who wonder what it means for civic life and what it says about the country’s place in the world. Australians consider themselves a highly informed and highly educated society, despite their geographic isolation. And The Herald and Age, with a history of sending correspondents to far-flung locales like the battlefields of Europe and Southeast Asia, have been central to the discourse.