News Limited Rebrand Must Be More Than Skin Deep

The Financial Review reported yesterday leaked news that ‘Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has briefed local ad agencies to help improve its (Australian News Ltd) brand image among consumers, advertisers and media buyers’.

If News imagines a rebranding and spin alone will mend its broken relationship with readers, advertisers and buyers, it is as misguided as governments that think the only problem with policies roundly rejected by the electorate is ‘the messaging’.

‘No’ usually means just that and in the case of News Ltd they have some work to do behind the scenes that doesn’t involve ad agencies to arrest the tide of cynicism towards not only their brand but also – to be fair – towards traditional news outlets generally.

The Sydney Morning Herald notes that News Ltd has indeed looked within itself for answers as it moves towards the new name of ‘News Australia’ and the introduction of paywalls for online versions of its titles. Interestingly, SMH reports:

According to the (leaked internal marketing) brief, News Ltd reflects and fights for "the values of middle Australia", but employee research last year had discovered a "misalignment" between the values the group espoused and that which it enacted.

‘Employee research’? ‘Misalignment’?

Indeed, other research over many years has found the values of those who write the news are distinctly different to those who receive it.

The significant disconnect between the beliefs and aspirations of those telling the stories and those reading them, and the way in which the story tellers inject their personal biases and agendas into much of what they write is a major issue that has worsened in recent years. Readers feel abused and insulted when even supposedly ‘straight’ news reporting hectors and criticises them ‘between the lines’ or, worse still, openly and disparagingly.

Additionally, anecdotal evidence suggests readers are much more media savvy than ever before and many are becoming tired of the increasingly hysterical nature of reportage and the popular media’s obsession with vacant celebrity.

To rebrand and attempt to spin its way out of the situation would likely be effective but only in the short term. For a resolution to the deeper malaise, News and other media organizations need to corral comment back onto the editorial pages and get back into the business of reporting the news soberly and without colour.