The Sydney Morning Herald is one of the most prestigious and important newspapers in Australia, published every day from Monday to Saturday in Sydney, the largest city in Australia. It is also the oldest newspaper in Australia still in existence, being continually published since 1831. Over 51,000 editions have been produced since then.

Unlike most newspapers in Australia, the Herald is a broadsheet, meaning that each page is approximately A2 in size. Tabloid newspapers, such as its competitior The Daily Telegraph are considerably smaller, with each page having a size of approximately A3.

The Sydney Morning Herald is sometimes perceived to be more straight laced and left wing in orientation, particularly when compared to the sensationalism and conservativism of the only other daily newspaper in Sydney, The Daily Telegraph. Whether this is true is highly subjective and a matter for debate; however, its circulation is considerably smaller than the Telegraph - the Herald sells about 200,000 copies per day compared to around 500,000 copies of the Telegraph. Like The Age, the demographics of its readers are more attractive to many advertisers than its tabloid competitor.

The Sydney Morning Herald was founded by two brothers named Fairfax, and is still owned by John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd, who also own The Age in Melbourne, The Illawarra Mercury in Wollongong, The Dominion Post in Wellington, and the daily business newspaper The Australian Financial Review.

Prominent columnists and journalists who write for The Sydney Morning Herald include Margo Kingston, Robert Manne, Paul Sheehan, Mark Riley and Kirsty Needham.

External Links

The Sydney Morning Herald website - http://www.smh.com.au