Our Commitment

We're for you

THE very first issue of the Hobarton

Mercury - on Wednesday, July 5, 1854 - made a simple but solemn promise to its readers: “We desire to do all the good we can.” Today, 164 years later, this ambition retains its relevance - as it has done for every single one of the 59,765 days since that first Mercury was printed.

Every day, our dedicated – Tasmanian – team comes to work determined to do all the good we can in serving this state that we love. And because of that hard work by the thousands of Tasmanians who have clocked on for a shift at the Mercury, our story is the story of a newspaper that has proudly been a central part of life in this town that has become a city, this colony that has become a state, this island that has become a world-renowned destination.

Generations of Tasmanians have shared in our pages their family news – births, deaths and marriages. The Mercury’s printing arm has meanwhile turned out many iconic items including apple crate labels, and Cadbury chocolate wrappers. And no matter how much things have changed over those almost 164 years in this most beautiful of islands, the role of the Mercury in the life of Tasmania has always been clear: We’re for Tasmania. We’re for you.

A lot has changed, of course. More than 200,000 Tasmanians each month still do what you’re doing and read the Mercury in print – but a similar number again these days choose to stay informed by accessing our news via themercury.com.au on their desktop, tablet or mobile phone. We’re

As Tasmanians ourselves, we at the Mercury are also not afraid to stick up for our island.

proud of that result, because we’ve always been at the cutting edge of technology. Tasmania’s first radio station broadcast from a studio in the Mercury building in 1924, and the state’s first television station was established in 1960 by the

Mercury and two business partners. Change has always been a part of life for us. The first news arrived in our newsroom via telegraph in 1860, we introduced front page news in 1939, computerised production in 1977, and full-colour printing in 1993. Four years later, we launched our website – and we started offering digital subscriptions in 2016.

What has never changed is our commitment to putting it all on the line to tell you what’s going on in Tasmania. When the Tasman Bridge came down on that fateful night in 1975, Mercury photographer Barry Winburn walked to the edge while the structure was still shaking to capture the best shot. After evil struck at Port Arthur in 1996, it was our

photographer Leigh Winburn (Barry’s son) who captured the iconic image of grieving husband and father Walter Mikac being held up by two grown men as he descended the steps of St David’s Cathedral – the image that brought home to the world the full heart-wrenching impact of the crime. Seventeen years later, when bushfires tore through the town of Dunalley and surrounds, our reporter David Killick and photographer Richard Jupe were the only media on the scene. The Mercury then delivered free newspapers by boat and by air to those areas isolated by the disaster.

But it’s not just in telling the stories of our biggest tragedies that the Mercury shines. In 2012, reporter Emma Hope came across the story of a young Hobart man tracking down his biological family in India. When Saroo Brierley found them against all odds, the story became an international one and then the basis of the awardwinning Hollywood blockbuster Lion. We found Saroo because at the

Mercury we’re also for telling the ordinary stories that become the extraordinary. We’ve followed Rodney Croome, for example, in his life-long battle for equal rights. We’ve shared the journey with Bob Brown and his passionate campaigning for the wilderness he loves. We’ve celebrated David Walsh – the man who has almost single-handedly made Tasmania cool. And we commit every year to telling the stories of people in our community doing amazing things through our Pride of Australia Awards. As Tasmanians ourselves, we at the

Mercury are also not afraid to stick up for our island.

Whether it’s fighting for our state’s share of the GST so we can properly fund services, or campaigning for our state’s right to have a team in the AFL, the

Mercury has – and always will – lead the charge. We led the way in winning federal funding for our northern university campuses, and for the Hobart City Deal that promises to transform our capital city. We fight hard, but really we don’t ask for much: we’re for a fair go for Tassie. We’re also for the unique Tasmanian lifestyle. While progress is inevitable, striking the right balance is vital. And retaining that magic that makes Tasmania the best place in the world to live will always be – and has always been – at the heart of the

Mercury’s mission.

We also believe passionately in the need to ensure our political leaders are looking beyond the horizon rather than just yelling at each other. That’s why we kicked this year off by investing in our Tassie 2022 series, a reader-led deep-dive into the best ways our politicians can respond to the biggest issues facing our state.

The Mercury is also committed to unashamedly standing up for our kids – putting education front and centre of the public debate through our Education Matters campaign, and through our support for a better university and TAFE. We have also fought for improved health services, and we have highlighted on the national stage the plight of our aged and disability pensioners. At the Mercury we’ve also never been ashamed to take on the tough issues. Our Man Up campaign, for example, raised awareness of family violence, while our Can We Talk series brought conversations about mental illness out of the darkness. The Mercury is for your right to know. The Glenorchy City Council has now been rebooted after years of dysfunction as a direct result of our reporting. A series of inquiries by the auditor-general have also been sparked by our exposure of the exorbitant legal bills and travel expenses being racked up by local councils – and the misuse of ratepayer-funded credit cards.

There was another commitment made in that first edition: “We are the servants of one master - the public,” the editor wrote. “It is our desire to serve faithfully, to benefit, and to be benefited.”

As “The Voice of Tasmania”, the Mercury is now proudly the major media brand in our state of half a million people. And today, to our 425,000 readers in print and on screens every month, we recommit to that promise. Tassie, we’re for you.

We’ve gone into bat for our devils, for our wombats, and for a high rise-free city skyline.

In a changing world, Tasmanians have always known they can trust the Mercury.