A small collection of newspaper banners from The Newcastle Herald from the 1980s and, mostly, the 1990s. The Newcastle Herald is a Fairfax owned tabloid for Newcastle, the largest non-capital city in Australia, the Hunter region and the Central Coast. The collection contains 134 banners: 1980 (1 banner), 1986 (4 banners), 1992 (75 banners) and 1994 (54 banners). The banners run to between 25 and 35 characters each (Twitter allows 140). Allowing for the restricted format, the banners possess a degree of variety within a strict hierarchy where any news item relevant to the Newcastle region – abbreviated to“Hunter”, “Valley” or “HV” here – takes precedence over state, national and international news. For example: “Valley Boy Missing”, “Threat to Hunter Mine”, “HV Murder: Creek Body Identified”, “Education: New Move in Hunter” and “Strangled: HV Woman Found Nude”. Once the Newcastle region is established, the general tabloid preference for deaths, sudden preferred; dismissal, deposed, or resigning, without notice or unexpectedly preferred; murders or convictions of public figures; confessions involving secrets or revelations, containing a scandalous element; all kick in. If none of these are present, then the headlines become more vague, keywords come into play: “interest rates”, “unemployment”, “price rises” and are presented in a manner invoking anxiety, fear, panic, falling short of hysteria, but carrying the promise of explanation once a copy has been purchased.
