The Herald Sun: A Renowned Print Media in Australia

This essay discusses the Herald Sun, a renowned print media in Australia, including its specialties, target audience, and circulation details.

Running head: MEDIA
Media
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MEDIA
The purpose of the paper is to discuss about a print media that has a worldwide
reputation. The print media chosen for this paper is the Herald Sun. It is one of the most
successful newspapers in Australia. Many important details regarding its specialties and target
audience should be declared in this paper. The main contents and its target audience would be
discussed in this essay along with its circulation details as well. Therefore, all this information
will be handy to get an overall idea about the newspaper.
The name of the newspaper is The Herald Sun. It is one of the most renowned daily
newspapers in Australia. It is a morning newspaper. The newspaper is mainly based at
Melbourne in Australia. This newspaper is published by The Herald and Weekly Times. This is a
subsidiary of the News Corp Australia (Heraldsun.com.au, 2017). The newspaper mainly
distributes their papers across Victoria region in Australia. The newspaper can also be purchased
Australian Global Territory, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. It has been
recorded that this paper had been circulated across the country with more than 350,000 copies
being sold from Monday to Friday. It is published in the tabloid format. The editor of the
newspaper is Damon Johnston (Heraldsun.com.au, 2017).
The newspaper Herald Sun is one of the most preferred newspapers in the world.
Therefore, the newspaper serves their customers with all sorts of breaking news in various fields
like sports, politics, national and international incidents and various other factors as well
(Heraldsun.com.au, 2017). The unbiased news presentation of the journalists appointed by the
newspaper has been a big inspiration indeed. The management of the newspaper is very strongly
very connected with the community they are engaged. The newspaper is published on all seven
days of the week. This is one of the main reasons as the subscribers of the newspaper prefer it
over other options like Sydney Morning Herald and others. This newspaper has an immense

2MEDIA
following all over Victoria as the newspaper is published on Sundays with the bumper Sunday
Herald Sun edition (Heraldsun.com.au, 2017). This is a very popular edition for their
subscribers. The newspaper is undoubtedly the biggest selling newspaper of Melbourne.
The types of contents that are served across the country are regarding sports, business,
politics, lifestyle, real estate, motoring, classifieds and others. This journey of the Herald Sun
began in the year 1990 as it was merged with the afternoon daily The Herald and the morning
daily newspaper The Sun News-Pictorial. Therefore, it has gained a huge reputation all over the
world. Therefore, this has been regarded as a very supportive material to reflect on the issue,
problems and values of the overall Victorian communities. This newspaper has gained this kind
of population since they have provided enough support to the Victorian community by becoming
the official sponsor of different events and causes. It has played a huge part in raising funds for
the Royal Children’s Hospital through its Good Friday Appeal (Heraldsun.com.au., 2019). This
newspaper is also circulated through its mobile app and its presence in the social media
platforms through the smartphones. The total number of its followers and subscribers is more
than 4 million in combination with their both print and digital media.
More than 1 million readers are subscribed with the printed version of this newspaper all
over Melbourne and other parts of Australia. The community engagement of the newspaper has
made them acceptable to their community. The total readership figures of the newspaper have
been on the increase over the past 12 months (Heraldsun.com.au., 2019). The proper analysis of
breaking news and sports news has been much stronger than before. Apart from that the chief
editor of the newspaper has very happily said that people in Melbourne and Victoria are very
much assured that they will get the best updated news from the Herald Sun through the pages of
its printed version and its website. The sports lovers, business enthusiasts, entertainment

3MEDIA
conscious people and other education activists are their main target audience since Herald Sun
provides the complete story on important events across the region without any compromise. This
has increased their trust issue (Heraldsun.com.au., 2019). Real estate enthusiasts have also
expressed their interest in the print versions of the newspaper. It is because the newspaper
provides many important interviews and their views on several real estate issues. The section
regarding real estate is printed on Saturdays and it has been growing so fast. The readership of
this real estate section has increased to around 16.1% (Heraldsun.com.au., 2019).
Apart from that, the sports section of the newspaper has gained a huge strength in the
recent times. The sports audience of the newspaper has increased every year with a growth rate
of 8.8% on Saturdays and 8.5% on the weekdays. This increase has been observed in mainly on
weekends. The Confidential entertainment section of the newspaper has been evidently
increased. The circulation of the newspaper Herald Sun has been growing stronger than ever.
The total circulation of the copies has increased up to 100,000 copies per day. The digital
readership of the newspaper has increased in large levels as well (Ju, Jeong, & Chyi, 2014).
Therefore, it is very much evident that the popularity of the newspaper has been on the increase.
Apart from that the development of the mobile applications has made it possible for the
newspaper to provide many specialized sporting products like SuperCoach, SuperFooty and
SuperRacing (Heraldsun.com.au., 2019). The typical readers of the newspaper are those people
who have always been very much enthusiastic about the sports activities and entertainment news.
In the concluding section, it must be said that the management of the Herald Sun has
been trying continuously to attract more readers at their disposal. This factor could be made
smoother if the editors could work harder to provide customized news for the digital readers.
Therefore, it would be very much engaging for readers to become loyal subscribers of this

4MEDIA
newspaper. The circulations will have to be made regular and digital news should be prompt and
updated on an hourly basis.

5MEDIA
References and Bibliography
Heraldsun.com.au (2017). Herald Sun is No.1 for news. [online] Heraldsun.com.au. Available at:
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/herald-sun-confirms-status-as-no1-newspaper-with-
rise-in-latest-audience-figures/news-story/d30ce2415303602383bbfd8b4279c7ff
[Accessed 1 May 2019].
Heraldsun.com.au. (2019). About Us | Herald Sun. Retrieved from
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/help/about
Ju, A., Jeong, S. H., & Chyi, H. I. (2014). Will social media save newspapers? Examining the
effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platforms. Journalism Practice, 8(1), 1-
17.
Thurman, N. (2018). Newspaper consumption in the mobile age: Re-assessing multi-platform
performance and market share using “time-spent”. Journalism Studies, 19(10), 1409-
1429.