Now that Fairfax chairman Ron Walker has had a few days to put his long
legs under his new desk, Crikey understands he has started to turn his
attention to what he sees as one of his biggest priorities: installing
Melbourne tabloid talk back king Neil Mitchell as editor of The Age to “fix up” the paper.

With current editor Andrew Jaspan about to celebrate his first year in
the paper’s hot seat, Crikey hears that Walker has told friends and
business colleagues over recent months that he sees Mitchell as the
answer to The Age’s circulation and credibility problems, not to mention straightening up its left-wing slant.

Walker unsuccessfully pushed for Mitchell’s appointment as editor last year before Jaspan was plucked from the Sunday Herald
in Glasgow. He believes Mitchell understands Melbourne and what “real
people” in Melbourne want from a newspaper, and makes no secret of his
great admiration for The Age’s rival the Herald Sun.

For Mitchell, The Age editorship would give him the
chance to apply his populist knee-jerk style of journalism to print and
return to the place where he started his career in journalism several
decades ago in what would be a crowning culmination to his media career.

And for Jaspan an early departure with a healthy payout would be the opportunity to wind up his editing stint from hell.

As for Walker’s array of potential conflicts of interest in his role as Fairfax chairman, we’re waiting for The Age to follow up this story from Sunday’s Herald Sun
– which revealed that “Ron Walker has made 19 international first class
trips in his role as Games chairman, with travel, hotel and
entertainment costs of more than $325,000.”