News

Artists fear impact of Advertiser’s Fringe reviews ‘ban’

With Adelaide Fringe not advertising in The Advertiser this year, the paper appears to be striking back by abandoning reviews coverage.

23 Feb 2023 9:47

Richard Watts

Performing Arts

Publicity image for ‘Be a Doll, Won’t You?’ at Adelaide Fringe 2023. Photo: Jamie Hornsby.

The tagline of News Corp’s Adelaide tabloid The Advertiser is ‘We’re for you,’ but this year it feels like Adelaide Fringe artists and festivalgoers are not part of the ‘you’ in question.

The Advertiser, Adelaide’s only daily newspaper, has reputedly banned reviews of the Adelaide Fringe this year after a breakdown in negotiations over the Fringe’s existing advertising arrangement.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts