The news-gathering industry has struggled in the Internet age, but Gerard Ryle, news editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s most prestigious newspaper, says that while the form of delivery is changing, the potential audience for news content will multiply many times by building new communities of readers.

“There will always be a market in delivering accurate and timely news,” Ryle says. “It will require vision, of course, but no more than that which transformed the music industry when the iPod came along. In fact, once we work out a new business model there is every chance journalism will enjoy a long golden period of growth.”

Ryle and wife Kimberley Porteous, multimedia editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, will deliver the 25th Graham Hovey Lecture, “The Odd Couple: Newspapers and the Internet — Will they ever get along?” at 5 p.m. Friday at Wallace house, 620 Oxford Road.

“Advertisers moving their dollars to the Internet is the biggest threat to newspapers, not free access to newspaper websites,” Porteous says. “It’s up to us on the staffs of these newspapers and newspaper websites to ensure the reading experience online is every bit as enriching as it is of our morning print newspapers. At the moment, I don’t think it is.”

Together, Ryle and Porteous hold six Walkley Awards, the Australian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. Ryle’s reporting and subsequent book, “The Firepower,” exposed one of the biggest business and sports scams in Australian history. His other investigations have led to more than a dozen high-profile inquiries ranging from fuel technology and land deals to blood safety and police corruption.

Ryle was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at U-M in 2005-06. “It is very rare that you get a chance, mid-career, to really get away from the pressures of day-to-day journalism and to really think about what it is we do,” Ryle says. “Of course, it helps to be surrounded by a bunch of great people, all of whom I am now proud to call friends. I can honestly say that it was the fellowship of the fellows that was most beneficial.”

Porteous, who accompanied her husband on the fellowship, took intensive French courses at the Residential College and classes in political science and contemporary U.S. history. She recently was named one of the world’s most notable online journalists. Porteous credits her experience at U-M with her subsequent success in conceiving and producing multimedia news, interactive journalism and Web documentaries.

“The Knight-Wallace fellowship inspired me to strive for excellence in journalism once I returned to work. It renewed my hunger and passion for the craft,” she says.

“It wasn’t so much because of the exposure to terrific journalism and journalists, although that was significant, but rather being in an atmosphere of higher learning and the opportunities we had to discuss all manner of topics with leaders in their fields, which fired off the synapses and, I think, correspondingly sparked something within me.”

The lecture honors alumni whose subsequent careers exemplify the benefits of sabbatical studies at U-M.

This year’s address will begin with a special memorial tribute to Graham Hovey and Margaret DeMuth, who died earlier this year. Hovey is the namesake for the lecture and was director of the fellowship program from 1980-86. DeMuth was program assistant until her retirement in 1989. Charles and Diane Fancher, both fellows during the 1981-82 year, will deliver the tribute.

The lecture is open to the public. A reception hosted by President Mary Sue Coleman will follow. For more information and to RSVP call 734-998-7666.