1 week Ago By Heather McNeill
The Australian Financial Review has been forced to pull its newspaper from Perth and become digital-only after Seven West Media, the owner of the state’s only print press, demanded a new contract that doubled the cost of printing. AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury called the move an “uncompetitive abuse of market power”. The print edition of The Australian Financial Review soon will be unavailable in Perth.
Credit: Dominic Lorrimer Owned by billionaire Kerry Stokes, Colourpress told Nine’s publishing chief, Tory Maguire, of the ultimatum last month, with the last print edition to run on May 22. “This decision is specific to Western Australia and has no impact on our papers and magazines in the rest of the country,” she said. “We work very constructively with the printers of our newspapers and magazines to ensure the long-term sustainability of our print products, which continue to be profitable.
“Fortunately, the Financial Review is an incredibly successful digital publication, which has allowed us to make this decision in the best interests of our business.” Seven West Media prints its own newspapers including The West Australian , The Sunday Times and community papers. It also prints News Corp’s The Australian , which the AFR reported had not been issued with the same terms, according to sources close to the company.
Nine is also the owner of this masthead. Read more here. WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam has responded to being compared to dictator Ad.
