Adelaide Advertiser used to publish hundreds of reviews. Not this year.

It is the world’s biggest Fringe festival after Edinburgh – but residents of Adelaide in South Australia would barely know it was taking place if they relied on their city’s only major newspaper.

The Adelaide Advertiser has historically published hundreds of reviews from the month-long festival each year but this year all-but ignored the opening weekend, when more than 1,280 shows began.

It has prompted speculation the Murdoch-owned tabloid has boycotted the festival after a sponsorship deal broke down, with the Fringe not placing any advertising for the first time in years.

Or it could simply be that increasingly cash-strapped media no longer has the resources to cover the arts.  The Advertiser’s global parent company, News Corp, just recorded a  47 per cent decline in earnings in its news media division.

Speaking at the opening weekend, independent producer Scott Maidment  said: ‘The Adelaide Advertiser has decided not to come to any shows, not to review any shows and not to do any stories on the Fringe. I think it’s a really poor state of affairs when we have the whole community come together.’

Fringe director Heather Croall told the ABC it was ‘deeply disappointing for the artists’  that there was such sparse coverage.

But she conceded that in the past ‘we would buy a certain amount of advertising, and then there would be a leverage of what you get on top of that. We negotiate that leveraging to make sure that it helps the Ffringe and the artists and the venues to the most possible way that it can.’

A spokesman for the Advertiser told The Guardian it is ‘covering the Fringe Festival on its merits, focusing on the aspects that resonate most with our audience, adding that: ‘Any claim our coverage is influenced by commercial considerations is 100% false.’

The only article in yesterday’s Advertisers concerning the festival was about how he  central outdoor hub, The Garden of Unearthly Delights  was charging a $4 admission fee for those who don’t have tickets to a show. The fee applies  during peak periods to keep a lid on crowd sizes and was introduced two years ago, but the article featured two visitors complaining about it.

British and Irish omics playing the festival include Daniel Kitson, Jimeoin, Josie Long, Larry Dean, Mark Watson, Paul Foot and Stephen K Amos.

Published: 21 Feb 2023