A space to watch

CHRIS Wharton has taken on one of the biggest business challenges in Western Australia.

Running WA Newspapers Holdings, publisher of The West Australian newspaper, has proved hard enough at the best of times because most people love to hate a business that is a monopoly, especially one they interact with every day.

But these days there are real questions about the future of newspapers, especially regional dailies such as The West.

He also now has to deal with all the concerns raised by Kerry Stokes, the chairman of his biggest shareholder Seven Network, and the man who installed him.

Last year, in seeking to spill the WAN board, Mr Stokes claimed the publisher was cutting costs rather than delivering profit growth, had poor distribution, was losing circulation, had badly configured printing press operations and lacked a digital strategy.

Presumably, Mr Wharton's job is to fix all those, notwithstanding a global financial crisis that has left the newspaper industry weak and exposed.

As a national media player Seven, and Mr Stokes, have a lot of experience in the sector they can bring to WAN. In fact, they are playing a role in the industry's likely consolidation.

While this is handy, Mr Wharton will also have to be sure he charts a course that suits all shareholders, not just that of Seven and its influential chairman.

And it's worth noting that no daily newspaper appears to have found a way to make enough money from the web to make up for what they are losing to the net.

It will be interesting to watch this space over the coming year.