This week we continue Crikey’s 15th birthday celebration with another commemorative timeline. We are now five years into our history. The year 2005 was a memorable one for the media, the internet and, of course, for Crikey.
It would be remiss of us not to mention that 2015 marks another internet pioneer’s birthday. This year YouTube turns 10. The first video was uploaded to the site in 2005. It features YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim reporting on the “really, really, really long trunks” of elephants at a zoo. While it may not be the most riveting 18 seconds of low-quality footage, its 22 million views prove it marked the beginning of something significant.
That was also the year Rupert Murdoch finally got on board the whole internet thing. In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the News Corp CEO admitted: “I thought this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along. Well, it hasn’t.” He was even willing to acknowledge that the threat of losing print advertising dollars to online media was “very real”.
It was a big year for Crikey, too. With the media rumour mill in overdrive, 10 years ago website founder Stephen Mayne sold the website to current owners Private Media Partners. Five years later, he looked back on the decision without regret: “In the end, it was absolutely the right decision.” He said that Crikey continued to fearlessly publish uncomfortable news and commentary.
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