Stokes goes wild over West Australian newspaper

Kerry Stokes, chairman of Channel Seven and major WAN shareholder slams the new $70 million newspaper press halls as among the worst he has ever seen.

Stokes, who is at open war with the current board of the newspaper company, delivered a speech at the Perth Convention Centre, where he opened fire on all facets of the newspaper – from its production to editorial. "I'm happy to talk indeed if some one - anyone wants to, about heat set presses and what I think is probably, seriously the worst planned and laid out press hall I've seen in the press halls I've been to," he said.

Despite his reported happiness to talk about it, so far Stokes has not been available to discuss this matter with Print 21. The press hall he is referring to is equipped with a $70 million package of KBA presses that former WAN CEO, Ian Law, said would "offer a much broader choice in terms of the types of products we can publish for our own newspapers, or for external customers."
 
Printing aside, Stokes warned of isolating readers through stories that did not carry enough relevance to the community. "The most important thing about the West Australian newspaper is it has lost focus on what its customer is. And its customer is the reader and the readers have stopped buying the newspaper," he said.

The paper's controversial editor, Paul Armstrong, whom Stokes accused of being "in conflict with everyone" was heavily criticised for declining readership, giving News Limited's weekend rival an advantage.

Stokes believes it is possible for the West Australian to get back on track  and steer the paper in a direction that he believes would be better. "Write the stories people want to see," he told the audience. "Have a front page cover that people want to pick up and buy."