Important information about road and bushfire safety would be kept from newspaper readers under a Dan Andrews’ edict to stop government print advertising in the Herald Sun and The Age.
The “unwise” and unprecedented move has left advocates across key industries “staggered”.
They warn that many Victorians who rely on newspapers as their main source of information may be left in the dark on critical safety and health information and essential public notices.
The Herald Sun is Australia’s biggest-selling masthead and almost half of all Victorians read a newspaper each month, with 2.6 million picking up a copy of the Herald Sun or The Age paper. This number is growing and dwarfs viewership of nightly television news bulletins.
The ad ban, due to start on July 1, will mean print readers won’t be informed about major roadworks, road closures and disruptions to the public transport network, as well as energy cost saving initiatives, fire preparedness measures or broader campaigns to bolster tourism efforts in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Vital information and community campaigns on bushfire safety will be withheld from print readers under the ban.
A government fire warning print ad, the likes of which will be axed.
The ads convey vital community information.
The Premier denied the ban was retribution for the Herald Sun holding the government to account through its reporting. He claimed the blackout was due to a “recalibrating” of its ad spend post Covid to television and digital. The government will advertise only on the Herald Sun and The Age’s websites.
But advocates have raised the alarm about the impact an advertising ban would have on significant community issues.
Road Safety Promotion Australia (ROSPA) board member Donald Gibb said it would leave a gap in the accessibility of key road safety measures at a time that Victoria’s road toll was unacceptably high. “There’s no question that advertising plays a key role in driver behaviour. There is a need for constant reinforcement, particularly during high risk periods like winter, and the best way to do that is by a print campaign,” he said.
“I’m staggered to think that a government can make such a decision. The decision to just use digital and TV is unwise.”
Victorians also rely on government notices to stay informed about planned burn offs or bushfire preparedness measures in times of emergency. Emergency Volunteer Awareness Campaign director Garth Head, a former principal adviser to the Bracks government for Police and Emergency Services, said print advertising remained a vital communication tool.
“We’re always dependent on the Herald Sun, but also The Age, to communicate a range of things about fire restrictions, about cleaning up and preparing your property for the fire season,” he said.
A TAC print ad.
Another advertisement on behalf of a Victorian government agency.
“The Herald Sun, principally, is read by people particularly of my generation and I know a lot of people my age, and older, who don’t use computers and the net. Those sorts of notices also get torn out and pinned up on the fridge with a magnet to serve as a reference point.”
Tourism bodies have warned other states could also capitalise on the advertising vacuum to lure Victorians to their destinations rather than holidaying in Melbourne and our regions. Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said any decision to depart the print space must consider growing competition from other destinations.
“As we head toward winter, Queensland is heading into their peak period to attract people from down south. You can absolutely count on the fact they’ll be flooding the newspapers with pictures of beautiful beaches and sunshine,” she said.
“Where’s our communications to combat that?”
Important TAC road safety messages could also not be delivered in print under Dan’s dangerous new edict.
Meanwhile, Council of the Ageing Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria chief executive Chris Potaris said there was a continuing need for print based information for older people. Recent data from the Australian Digital Inclusion Index revealed 42 per cent of people over 75 could be regarded as “highly digitally excluded”. “For these and many other older people, the daily newspaper remains a vital source of information, particularly about basic services,” Mr Potaris said.
“By cutting print advertising, the government will be effectively discriminating against older people and reducing the impact of public education campaigns and other communications. We believe this is starkly contrary to the idea of government setting an example for inclusive use of both digital and non-digital communications.”
Former Premier Jeff Kennett said the print blackout was “dismissive” of the fact that many Victorians still relied on a physical newspaper. “The Premier’s comments are dismissive of those who choose to read from a newspaper, dismissive of those who are elderly and are comforted by reading newspapers, and it denies the fact there are still hundreds of thousands of newspapers that are sold everyday,” he said.
“Newspapers have always had a social partnership with the government of the day in order to advance issues of social concern.”
Luxury Escapes founder Adam Schwab, who regularly relies on print advertising to promote his products, said the Premier’s suggestion that print advertising wasn’t effective is a “strange view which differs from our internal data”.
Victorian Tourism Industry Council CEO Felicia Mariani says any decision to depart the print space must consider growing competition from other destinations.
“It would seem unusual for digital to be able to achieve the reach of the newspapers while broadcast television is widespread but far less cost effective,” he said.
The Herald Sun, which has a total print and digital monthly audience of 4.2 million people, is Victoria’s most influential media brand and the most-read newspaper in Australia from Monday to Saturday. In the 12 months to March, the Herald Sun’s Monday to Friday print audiences increased by 6.6 per cent to 566,000. This figure does not include the Herald Sun’s rapidly growing digital print edition readership. During the same period, the Saturday Herald Sun’s readership lifted by 4.8 per cent to 639,000, and the Sunday Herald Sun by 5.5 per cent to 713,000.
Mr Andrews defended his ad ban and argued he would still be able to communicate with less tech-savvy cohorts through ramped up television ads.