Apart from Kylar Loussikian, the AFR has also promoted Jessica Gardner to deputy editor – news, based at Parliament House in Canberra.
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Julia Naughton appointed Head of Life at Nine’s metro titles with ambitious plan to grow travel, lifestyle and culture content
Widely respected journalist and editor Julia Naughton has been appointed Head of Life at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday overseeing an ambitious plan to digitally elevate Travel, Lifestyle and Culture content across Nine’s metro mastheads.
Currently Lifestyle Content Director with the mastheads, Naughton’s new role will see her grow one of Australia’s most renowned travel brands, Traveller, as demand for post-Covid travel builds, as well as managing and building the Lifestyle and Culture offering.
Naughton’s appointment follows a competitive internal application process, and will see her work closely with the commercial and subscription teams.
“Taking the lead on Culture, Lifestyle and Travel at the best newsrooms in the country is tremendously exciting,” said Naughton. “The pandemic years made it clear how hungry people are for intelligent and informative storytelling, and that extends across all areas of culture, personal health and relationships, fashion and travel.”
“These are all topics I’ve loved weaving together throughout my career and it’s a privilege to step into the role at a time of ambitious growth at the mastheads.”
Naughton joined the mastheads in 2020 as Lifestyle Editor, before being promoted to Lifestyle Content Director. This role has seen her expand her remit to Sunday Life magazine where she has driven the digital and social strategy, and launched the magazine’s inaugural Trailblazers Issue. She has also launched various content series that has engaged subscribers including the recent Sleep series of features.
Previous to that, she served as nine.com.au’s Managing Editor (Lifestyle and Entertainment) where she oversaw 9Honey, and has also been an Associate Editor at The Huffington Post Australia and a Features Writer at Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Welcoming her appointment, Executive Editor Tory Maguire said Naughton’s focus on digital growth and innovation will ensure travel, lifestyle and culture content will continue to lead the Australian market.
“In the time since Julia joined the metros as Lifestyle editor her results have been incredible. She understands instinctively how to commission and edit stories, while also being highly skilled with audience data. She’s a terrific leader who will be a huge asset to the metros senior editor ranks,” said Maguire.
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The regular Good Weekend magazine returns on January 28.
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Patrick Elligett appointed Editor of The Age
Patrick Elligett has been appointed Editor of The Age, it was announced today.
Elligett has been news director for The Age since 2020, and previous to that was World editor. Prior to joining The Age, he was editor of the New Daily.
Executive Editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Tory Maguire, said Elligett – who will begin his role on January 30 – is a leader who is naturally consultative and inclusive.
“It was an incredibly competitive field of candidates for this role, and Patrick laid out a highly strategic, clear-eyed and bold plan for growing The Age’s audience and subscriber base while also boosting the masthead’s role in leading the big conversations in Melbourne, Victoria and the nation,” said Maguire.
“The Age is in good hands. Patrick demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of reader trends and the challenges it presents. I’m very confident that his plan is the right one to steer The Age through the next few years of economic uncertainty, shifting habits and demographic change.”
Elligett’s journalistic career has seen him edit large and small regional publications and report for digital, print and broadcast media in Australia and overseas.
“It is an incredible honour to be entrusted with the leadership of such a significant institution,” said Elligett.
“Victorians look to The Age to provide responsible, fearless and rigorous journalism and that role is more important now than ever. I look forward to upholding The Age‘s fine journalistic traditions and finding new ways to connect with Victorians on the issues they care about most.
“I would also like to thank Gay Alcorn for her intelligent, determined leadership and profound contribution to the journalism of The Age during the past three years.”
Elligett replaces Gay Alcorn, who stepped down in December to take care of her unwell husband.
“I would like to give a special thanks to Michael Bachelard and Mat Dunckley who have acted as editor and deputy editor for many months now with amazing commitment and good will,” said Maguire.
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Yeah, Peter Costello and his mates. He doesn’t need WhatsApp or Signal or Telegram - he can put his secret messages in the AFR. It’s not like anyone’s going to read it… 
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Andrew Hornery has to apologise yet again for his gossip column comments.
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https://twitter.com/theage/status/1620007966798929920
The statement by recently appointed editor-in-chief Patrick Elligett, refers to this cartoon drawn by Joe Benke.
https://twitter.com/koralyd/status/1619852682797387781
UPDATE 31/1: the apology also appeared on the print edition of Tuesday’s Age.
The controversial cartoon was also reported by The Australian in its Wednesday edition.
Benke told The Australian he “obviously never intended” to offend the actors.
He said he “didn’t excessively caricature” the two actors, and had drawn them from a photograph of them performing in the production of Seven methods of killing Kylie Jenner.
Benke said he was informed by a senior editorial figure at The Age that his cartoon would be withdrawn because “it had created a bit of a storm”, and his depiction of the women was “not approved of by others” – that is, people outside the newsroom.
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Also see
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Highly respected editor Sarah Norris appointed Head of Food across Nine’s mastheads to supercharge Good Food
Highly respected journalist and editor Sarah Norris has been appointed Head of Food at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday to oversee an ambitious plan to supercharge the Good Food brand in the marketplace to drive subscriber growth.
Norris has built an enviable reputation across the food and beverage industry in her previous role as national editor of Broadsheet and has an innate knowledge of the trends in the industry.
As the home of the prestigious Hats, Good Food is Australia’s most respected food and beverage title. The appointment of Norris to the newly-created position of Head of Food is crucial to elevate the vertical, and open up new opportunities. She will work across the Good Food editorial, commercial and events teams to drive a unified approach to further grow the brand.
Welcoming her appointment, Executive Editor Tory Maguire said Norris’ role will focus on innovation and growth, and will ensure the mastheads’ food offering will lead the Australian market.
“It’s rare to find an editor who has both a deep appreciation for the history of a title as prestigious as Good Food as well as the skills, passion and experience in driving growth that Sarah has in spades,” Maguire said.
“Sarah will bring the enormous energy and digital understanding Good Food needs as we step it back into the metro mastheads and make considerable investment in building it into a major subscription driver.”
With more than two decades of writing and editing experience involving food, beverage and culture, Norris has previously been Sydney editor of Broadsheet before becoming its first national editor. Prior to that she was Features editor of Virgin Australia’s inflight magazine Voyeur, Associate Editor of Time Out Sydney and editor of Drum Media.
Beginning her media career as an editorial assistant at The Australian Financial Review, Norris wrote food reviews for Good Food from 2015 to 2021, and was a reviewer for Australian Gourmet Traveller Magazine restaurant guide from 2010 to 2017.
“I’m super excited to join Good Food,” said Norris. “I’ve been a reader for years and have contributed to the Good Food guide as a reviewer, but to lead and oversee the mastheads’ food offering is an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.
“I think Australia’s food and cooking scene is unmatched, and I find no greater joy in helping people discover everything that makes it nuanced and special. I want more people to feel the way I do about Australia’s food scene – and importantly take Good Food to the next level.”
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The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s No.1 most read masthead finds Roy Morgan
The Sydney Morning Herald remains Australia’s most read news brand with a cross-platform readership of 8.1 million readers, according to the Total News readership figures released by Roy Morgan today.
Cementing its place as the country’s most read masthead, the Herald continues to more than double The Daily Telegraph readership (8.064 million versus The Telegraph’s 3.950 million) in Total News, in the latest figures in the 12-month period ending December 2022.
The Monday to Friday print edition recorded an impressive annual growth of 14% year-on-year, and quarterly growth of 4%. With a readership of 402,000, this is the fifth consecutive quarter of growth.
The Sun Herald print edition is read by 417,000 people every Sunday. In the last four weeks 1.9 million people on average have read a print edition of the Herald.
Across the Herald and Age, the prestigious Good Weekend continues to be Saturday’s most read magazine insert, attracting an average issue print readership of 722,000. Similarly, the Good Food and Traveller titles deliver total cross platform audiences of 1.54 million and 1.63 million, respectively, each month.
Sunday Life recorded an average issue print readership of 420,000, while Domain defied a softening real estate market, seeing annual and quarterly growth with a print readership of 510,000.
Nine’s Total Publishing assets reach a de-duplicated audience of 16.8 million* Australians across print and digital.
“Against a backdrop of a cost of living crisis and a touch of news fatigue affecting all publishers, The Sydney Morning Herald has more than held its own. These figures again demonstrate the quality of the Herald’s journalism and the special role we have in people’s daily lives. Our newsroom has a real great buzz at the moment and we have some really innovative and exciting projects planned to bring to our readers over the coming months,” said the Herald’s editor, Bevan Shields.
The Total News readership figures are produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands.
Source: Roy Morgan Research, All People 14+. All audience data is based on the last 4 weeks averaged over the 12 months to December 2022.
*This figure includes: Nine.com.au, SMH Print & Digital, The Age Print & Digital, AFR Print & Digital, Brisbane Times, WA Today, Domain Digital, Good Weekend VIC & NSW, Sunday Life VIC & NSW, Domain NIM VIC & NSW, AFR Magazine
The Age maintains its lead as Victoria’s most read masthead finds Roy Morgan
The Age has once again maintained its lead as Victoria’s most read masthead, with a cross platform readership of 5.6 million, according to Total News readership figures released by Roy Morgan today.
With one in four Australian news readers engaging with the masthead to inform their day, The Age has cemented its place as the nation’s second most read news brand after The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Age now has 1.2 million more readers than its direct competitor The Herald Sun.
The Monday to Friday print edition recorded annual growth of 3% year-on-year, and quarterly growth of 5%, recording a readership of 275,000. The Saturday edition of The Age saw quarterly growth of 3%, marking two consecutive quarters of growth.
The Sunday Age print edition is read by 387,000 people every Sunday. In the last four weeks 1.4 million people on average have read a print edition of The Age.
Across The Age and the Herald the prestigious Good Weekend continues to be Saturday’s most read magazine insert, attracting an average issue print readership of 722,000. Similarly, the Good Food and Traveller titles deliver total cross platform audiences of 1.54 million and 1.63 million, respectively, each month.
Sunday Life recorded an average issue print readership of 420,000, while Domain defied a softening real estate market, seeing annual and quarterly growth with a print readership of 510,000.
Nine’s Total Publishing assets reach a de-duplicated audience of 16.8 million* Australians across print and digital.
“If anyone needed reminding that The Age is the first-choice news outlet of Victorians, these results put that beyond doubt,” said The Age’s editor, Patrick Elligett.
The Total News readership figures are produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands.
Source: Roy Morgan Research, All People 14+. All audience data is based on the last 4 weeks averaged over the 12 months to December 2022.
*This figure includes: Nine.com.au, SMH Print & Digital, The Age Print & Digital, AFR Print & Digital, Brisbane Times, WA Today, Domain Digital, Good Weekend VIC & NSW, Sunday Life VIC & NSW, Domain NIM VIC & NSW, AFR Magazine
The Australian Financial Review is Australia’s most read premium business title
The Australian Financial Review is the country’s most read premium business masthead recording a cross platform readership of 3.6 million people, according to Total News readership figures released by Roy Morgan today.
As trusted business news and analysis becomes more important than ever during turbulent economic times, the Financial Review is outpacing the market compared to its nearest competitor.
The Financial Review’s average issue print readership Monday-Friday has increased 26% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter. This is the highest quarterly result recorded since September 2018. Meanwhile, The Australian has seen an annual drop of 18% for the same period.
With the AFR Weekend Saturday print edition readership increasing by a massive 41% year on year, and 15% in the last quarter, the weekend and weekday print editions are outpacing the market with their growth.
AFR Magazine continues to dominate Australia’s monthly magazine insert figures, with a print readership of 430,000, which has seen a quarter on quarter growth of 5%.
Nine’s Total Publishing assets reach a de-duplicated audience of 16.8 million* Australians across print and digital.
“The Financial Review is holding up amid the cost-of-living squeeze on overall news audiences and subscriptions, maintaining most of the strong gains made during the pandemic. That reflects the value of the masthead’s unique journalism to our target readers,” said the masthead’s editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury.
The Total News readership figures are produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands.
“If anyone needed reminding that The Age is the first-choice news outlet of Victorians, these results put that beyond doubt,” said The Age’s editor, Patrick Elligett.
The Total News readership figures are produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands.
Source: Roy Morgan Research, All People 14+. All audience data is based on the last 4 weeks averaged over the 12 months to December 2022.
*This figure includes: Nine.com.au, SMH Print & Digital, The Age Print & Digital, AFR Print & Digital, Brisbane Times, WA Today, Domain Digital, Good Weekend VIC & NSW, Sunday Life VIC & NSW, Domain NIM VIC & NSW, AFR Magazine
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Landmark examination of national security by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
Red Alert series examines the potential of military action involving Australia by 2026
A complacent Australian population and unprepared defence force could have catastrophic results if fears of a war with China within three years are realised, reveals a landmark new investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The three-part subscriber series Red Alert – led by political and international editor Peter Hartcher and foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott – draws on the views of five respected panellists whose expertise spans military strategy, defence policy, cyber, geopolitics and technology.
They examine the most pressing national security challenges facing Australia, including the consequences of our nation’s political leaders refusing to be frank with the public about the dire threats the nation faces. All agree that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would result in war, potentially as early as 2026.
The series comes at arguably the most significant moment in Australian defence policy since World War II, with the federal government set to release its response to the defence strategic review as well as reveal the type of submarine technology it will acquire under the AUKUS pact.
Using innovative graphics and interactive storytelling, the Red Alert series will run across Nine’s mastheads The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday from Tuesday, March 7, culminating in a joint written communique including recommendations for action. While all panellists want peace, they said we need to prepare for the possibility of imminent war.
The five respected experts – former senior Defence Department official Peter Jennings, Macquarie University senior lecturer in strategic studies and criminology Lavina Lee, former chief scientist of Australia Alan Finkel, National Institute of Strategic Resilience chair Lesley Seebeck and retired Army major general Mick Ryan – all met in person over nearly two days to examine a range of scenarios and to determine whether Australia is ready for war.
“War and peace are the biggest decisions a country can make,” said Peter Hartcher. “We all live here and pay taxes here – we all have a lot at stake.
“The government will soon announce its big defence strategic review. But their review is not independent and most of its real thinking will be kept secret.
“We’ve brought together five eminent experts. They’ve given us an independent insight into our future, problems and solutions. It’s sometimes fascinating, disturbing, and motivating. It’s honest and it’s fearless.”
With the world’s ammunition stocks and military hardware fast being consumed by war in Ukraine, the panel reveals that an opportunistic grab for Taiwan could result in 200,000 US troops pouring into Australia as Chinese missiles attack our military facilities and cyber attacks on critical infrastructure become the new battlefield.
“Neither the Australian military nor the public are presently truly prepared for the outbreak of war and Australia’s inevitable participation,” said panellist Lavina Lee, adding the biggest danger the nation faces is complacency rather than alarmism. “This means there is an absence of urgency about what needs to be done now.”
The executive editor of the Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday, Tory Maguire, said few journalists could pull together such a high calibre panel of experts in the way Peter Hartcher and Matthew Knott have.
“The findings and recommendations will resonate right through Australia’s highest levels of decision making, inside and outside the ADF,” Maguire said.
“It’s not an easy conversation to have, but it’s crucial we have it now and not leave it until after it’s too late. Properly funding Australia’s defences will come at a cost, and only a grown up analysis and debate will get us to where we need to be to ensure our future as a prosperous, lucky country.”
Three-part series Red Alert will begin Tuesday, March 7 in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age , Brisbane Times and WAToday.
A scathing critique by Paul Keating on the above Red Alert series.
I see where Keating’s coming from but I found nothing wrong with the article other than the fact that it’ll probably piss off those cronies at the CCP. It’s pretty realistic and important.
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Good Food, the food and restaurant guide of Fairfax/Nine, ceased to be a separate website from yesterday (March 16) and was integrated into the websites of SMH, The Age, Brisbane Times and WA Today.
It means a majority of Good Food content which used to be available free and unrestricted (such as recipes and restaurant reviews) is now behind the paywall, and you will have to be a subscriber of one of the news websites above to see all the articles.
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According to Mediaweek, Zoe Samios, media and telecommunications reporter at SMH and The Age, will join The Australian Financial Review in mid May as a business reporter in mid May, covering gaming and the business of sport.
Meanwhile, AFR has appointed Victoria Thieberger to the new role of special reports editor, starting from May 1. She will oversee the digital production value of special reports and boost audience and engagement. The paper has also named Sarah Jones as markets editor, effective from April 17. In the role, she will lead a group of writers and boost the Markets Live blog.
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Similar to Good Food, a majority of Traveller’s content (including letters from readers) is now behind the paywall.
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The Age advises its digital subscription is going up from $15 to $19.49 a month. A 29% hike seems a bit steep but i guess everything’s going up these days 
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