In line with the impartial meaning of the epigraphs displayed on the Sydney Herald's masthead and above the leader, the Leader of the first issue of the Sydney Herald states the newspaper's editorial policy:
'Our Editorial management shall be conducted upon principles of candour, honesty, and honor. Respect and deference shall be paid to all classes. Freedom of thinking and speaking shall be conceded, and demanded. We have no wish to mislead; no interests to gratify by unsparing abuse, or indiscriminate approbation. We shall regret opposition, when we could wish to concur, and bestow the meed of praise. We shall dissent with respect, and reason with a desire, not to gain a point, but to establish a principle. By these sentiments we shall be guided, and, whether friends or foes, by these we shall judge others; we have a right, therefore, to expect that by these we shall be judged.'
The editorial lists the subjects, in order, '... to which [the paper's] attention shall be more exclusively directed ... The Colony of New South Wales, and its best interests, as a dependency of the Crown ... Van Diemen's Land, the Islands in the South Seas and Pacific, and the commercial and social relations of Australasia in general ... English and Foreign news ... The well-being of the merchant, manufacturer, farmer, and local and civil functionary ... the interests of literature and of those connected with its advancement ... Education ... the youth of the Colony ... the dissemination of medical knowledge ... law reports, and trials of Colonial importance in our Courts of Justice...'
The first editors, publishers, printers and sole proprietors of the Sydney Herald, Alfred Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes and William McGarvie worked together on the Sydney Gazette. They formed a partnership in a printing business and imported a printing press from London. However, as J. V. Byrnes, in his biography of Stephens, 'Stephens, Alfred Ward (1804-1852)', published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, writes ' ... orders being fewer than they expected, they decided to publish a newspaper instead.' McGarvie sold his share of the business to Stephens and Ward after only five issues and Byrnes writes '... although Stephens and Stokes were joint proprietors, Stephens seems to have been the acknowledged editor.' However, according to Byrnes in his biography of McGarvie, 'McGarvie, William (1810-1841)', published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, McGarvie edited the first issues of the Herald. Byrnes also writes that 'McGarvie is credited with naming the paper after the Glasgow Herald'.Despite its editorial policy of impartiality, J. V. Byrnes notes in his biography of Stephens that '... [b]efore the
Herald appeared, the Tories in Sydney and the Hunter River district had no newspaper to express their political and economic opinions. The
Herald filled this gap ... The
Herald was also involved in libel actions and accused of using underhand methods to score off its opponents.'
In 1836 Stephens bought out Frederick Stokes. Byrnes states in his biography of Stephens that '... [a]s sole editor and proprietor Stephens for the next three years exerted a strong influence on colonial affairs with
[Edward] O'Shaughnessy as his leader writer'.
In 1839 Stephens sold the Herald back to Frederick Stokes. The paper incorporated the Colonist newspaper from 1 January 1841. Stokes sold the paper to Charles Kemp and John Fairfax in February 1841 and from 1 August 1842 the paper changed its name to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Sources: J. V. Byrnes, 'Stephens, Alfred Ward (1804-1852)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stephens-alfred-ward-2695/text3777, accessed 23 April 2013.
J. V. Byrnes, 'McGarvie, William (1810-1841)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcgarvie-william-2400/text3171, accessed 23 April 2013.
