Australia and New Zealand both have nearly perfect literacy rates. Therefore, it is no surprise that newspapers are a big part of their media culture. Although the world is in the midst of a digital age, newspapers are still prevalent in these two countries despite circulation declines.
The largest newspaper in Australia is the Herald Sun. It is owned and published by properties owned by Rupert Murdoch’s, News Corp. It is a tabloid newspaper with a circulation of over 500,000 people. The second largest is the tabloid Daily Telegraph of New South Wales, published by Mirror Australia Telegraph Publications, also a News Corp company. Its average circulation is 412,000. Third is The Sydney Morning Herald, published by John Fairfax Publications with a circulation of 223,000.
In New Zealand, daily newspapers are numerous in relation to population size. As of the early 2000s, there were 26 daily newspapers, of which 18 were evening papers, nearly all of them published in provincial towns and cities. Of the eight morning daily newspapers, the Auckland-based New Zealand Herald had the largest circulation of about 200,000 copies daily.
On an average day, more than 1.7 million New Zealanders over the age of 10 read a newspaper. New Zealanders spend approximately $4.0 million per week on their daily newspapers, including Sunday papers. There are also a significant number of a afternoon newspapers, which is against the international trend shifting to morning newspapers in order not to conflict with popular evening newscasts.
As you can see, newspapers are a key aspect of the media systems in both Australia and New Zealand. This is a direct reflection on nearly perfect literacy rates in each of these countries. I predict steady decline in newspapers, however, because it is slowly becoming easier to view news online via digital news publications and social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.