Thanks for your time.
No trouble at all.
You run what I suppose we can call a major daily newspaper.
Certainly. One of the big four.
Which are the big four?
Ourselves and the three other big ones.
And how are things going in the media at the moment?
They’re going pretty well. Advertising revenues are up. We’re certainly going well.
And what are the big stories at the moment?
The big news stories?
Yes.
You’ve got your Danish Prince and Princess…
This is Mary, the girl from Tasmania?
Yes, our Mary. A fabulous story.
It is a great story, isn’t it?
It’s a dream story. It’s got elements of reality and fantasy.
He seems so nice too, doesn’t he?
He does. Everyone likes him. A marvellous story.
And they’ve been in Sydney of course.
They have charmed Sydney.
Yes. What else?
Well yes, there are other stories of course. You’ve got your Danish royals. They’re in Melbourne now.
Yes, I mean apart from the Danish royals, what other stories are big in Australia at the moment?
Plenty of other stuff; Prince Charles, Delta, someone hacked into Paris Hilton’s phone, we’re doing a thing on where to get the best coffee, shoes…
What’s happening in the Middle East?
House prices, yes, they certainly seem to have stabilised.
No I mean in Iraq.
Iraq?
Yes.
Something about Syria.
Yes, what about Syria?
I think George Bush has warned Syria.
What about?
Warned them to stop doing that thing they were doing.
What will he do if they don’t stop?
I imagine he’ll go in there and bring freedom and democracy to the Syranians.
How do you think the Australian economy is going?
It’s going well. As I say, advertising revenues are up. We’re making a poultice…
I mean the broader economy.
Advertising revenue is up across the board. I don’t know anyone who’s not making a quid out of advertising revenue.
Do you think there’ll be another interest rate hike?
Not before Gallipoli. We’ve pretty much got the Gallipoli coverage organised. They’d be mad to get in the road of that.
How do you think the poor are travelling in this country at the moment?
The poor? Look, I’ll be honest, we don’t cover a lot of stories about the poor.
Why not?
It’s difficult to interest the advertisers in buying space in a story about the poor.
What about the sick? The health system doesn’t work.
Yes, not news really if it’s not working.
Or the aged?
No, you can hook them in on the old folks if there’s a nice retirement development being released. ‘Calming Vistas’, ‘Autumnal Heights’ or something.
And what would you run there?
We wouldn’t just be running the press handout, if that’s what you’re asking.
What would you be running?
We’ll be running the press handout, but you can just cut at my last answer.
This is live.
We’re going out live?
Yes.
(Off.) Get me a big picture of Prince Frederick and Our Mary, will you?