Readers of Rupert Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph were given a dose of more progressive thinking when they woke up this morning with pages from its rival Sydney Morning Herald mysteriously appearing in the tabloid paper.

The SMH’s editorial page in which it argued for Anzac Day to evolve must have confused readers of the more conservative Daily Telegraph. But there it was, side by side with the Telegraph’s gossip page, Sydney Confidential.

A large photograph of a former Miss World Australia winner sat opposite content which wouldn’t usually appear in the Tele: a letter headlined “No room for compromise when climate is at risk”. The Herald’s obituaries page also featured.

Both News Corp and Nine, the Herald’s owner, were initially blindsided by the error on Anzac Day, unable to explain how it could have happened. Nine managers joked privately that the “Tele readers never had it so good”.

But it emerged that a printing error at a western Sydney plant had resulted in the two papers’ content getting mixed up. Needless to say, this wouldn’t have happened were the Herald still a broadsheet.

The newspapers have been produced at the same location since a deal was struck last year, which was designed to save $15m as the two Sydney papers struggled to become more efficient.

Under the deal, News Corp was to print the former Fairfax newspapers in New South Wales and Queensland. Meanwhile, Nine’s printing plants in North Richmond, north-west of Sydney, were to print News Corp mastheads.

Good morning readers, today @DailyTelegraph printed 2 pages from The Sydney Morning Herald in some editions. Both papers share the same printing facility in Sydney's west and the error happened during the production process. We apologise for any confusion this has caused. pic.twitter.com/PzGSeLjlmH — The Daily Telegraph (@dailytelegraph) April 24, 2019

But by mid-morning the Tele had explained to readers on social media it had been a production error: “Good morning readers, today @DailyTelegraph printed 2 pages from The Sydney Morning Herald in some editions. Both papers share the same printing facility in Sydney’s west and the error happened during the production process. We apologise for any confusion this has caused.”

The unusual deal was one of the last brokered by the former Fairfax boss Greg Hywood, and followed the loss of hundreds of jobs and a restructure of the publishing company after a collapse in advertising revenue. Struggling to make the printed newspapers profitable, the companies decided to close down some printing plants and join forces to keep costs down.

I am sure the @dailytelegraph readers will be ever so grateful for the addition of the opinion pages of the @smh in their #AnzacDay copy but spare a thought for some hapless printer who is about to feel the full wrath from News Corp. https://t.co/6kGqA4B3HP — Kate McClymont (@Kate_McClymont) April 24, 2019

“The printing arrangements make the production of newspapers more efficient for both publishers,” Hywood said. “These are landmark initiatives.”

News Corp Australia’s executive chairman, Michael Miller, said he was confident the deal meant printed newspapers had a future. “As a publisher, we have absolute confidence in the ongoing significance of newspapers,” he said.

“Within this framework, we need to continue to look at the most effective and efficient ways to produce newspapers. This is a commercial deal which makes commercial sense by enabling better use of our existing print facilities.”

The SMH opinion page opposite Confidential. Photograph: Twitter

A spokeswoman for News Corp, which has control of the press that made the mistake, said it had been a printing error.

“An error occurred during the printing of the country editions of today’s Daily Telegraph,” she said. “This was corrected for the later metro editions. All steps are being taken to ensure such an error does not happen again.”

The Sydney Morning Herald took a lighter approach.

“We hope the early edition readers of the Tele enjoyed our Sydney Morning Herald editorial,” a spokeswoman said. “We have been advised it was an error which was corrected as soon as it was identified so later editions weren’t impacted.”











