The New Daily emerges as an online media player, with backing from industry superannuation funds

Updated

Stop the presses. From this morning, there is a new player in Australia's cut-throat news media industry.

But as traditional hard copy newspapers struggle to survive in the digital world, there is not a media magnate in sight.

Instead, The New Daily will be bankrolled by three Australian industry superannuation funds: Australian Super, Cbus and Industry Super Holdings.

And unlike the online mastheads from Fairfax and News Corporation, such as The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, The New Daily will not have a pay wall.

Like The Guardian and The Global Mail, the new online entrant is offering a quality product at a time when hard copy newspapers are hurting from dwindling sales and advertising revenue.

Bruce Guthrie, a former editor of The Age and the Herald Sun, is The New Daily's managing editor.

He has been a witness to the dramatic decline of traditional news outlets.

Mr Guthrie is confident The New Daily can make a point of difference by being an unashamed online offering in the business of providing hard news that is also free of charge.

"I think first and foremost, it's a true digital-only product," he told AM.

"It hasn't been a newspaper in the past that was dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age. It wasn't a TV station. We've created this from the ground up to be digital and only digital.

"In a sense we're not realty competing with those players. To me, they put a lot of material up there every day. It's almost journalism by the yard, as I call it.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Bruce Guthrie speaks with ABC News Breakfast (ABC News)

"They throw a lot of stories up there in the hope that some get traction and if they don't they take them down and they'll put up another story and just kind of an endless search for clicks.

"But significantly, and I think it is becoming even more significant, it's free and it always will be free."

The New Daily will be headquartered in Melbourne and will have a staff of 11 journalists, plus a network of contributors. The site will also use content from the Australian Associated Press and the ABC.

Super fund backing 'open-ended'

While the three super fund backers are providing $2 million each, the strategy is to have The New Daily self funded through advertising revenue.

"I think their expectations are realistic," Mr Guthrie said.

"Garry Weaven, who is the chairman of The New Daily Propriety Limited, has said that eventually in the medium term, and we're probably talking somewhere between three and five years, this should pay for itself at least and then move into profit."

Mr Guthrie says the commitment from the industry superannuation backers is "open-ended" and designed to engage the 5 million Australians who have their retirement saving in industry superannuation.

But Mr Guthrie says the backers will not have a say in the editorial direction of The New Daily and have agreed to a charter of editorial independence.

"That sets out how we will cover stories and it's made clear that whether it's superannuation, politics, industrial relations, we'll cover it without fear or favour, we'll give everyone their side, their side of the story, but we won't be slanting stories." he said.

Mr Guthrie says The New Daily has been set "eminently achievable targets" based on attracting unique browsers over the next three to five years.

And he is confident the site will still be alive in a year's time.

"Well I'd like to think so. And look, the audience ultimately will decide that and the traffic is already beginning to come to the site and they ultimately will decide whether we stand or fall, but we're very, very confident that we can deliver a daily package that's going to be compelling," he said.

The launch of the New Daily comes after News Corporation's Australian newspapers reported a revenue decline of 22 per cent for the most recent quarter.

Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his blog.

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, company-news, corporate-governance, industry, media, australia

First posted