Attard moved out of role as Global Mail editor
Global Mail founding editor Monica Attard is to step down from the role after disagreements with co-founder and philanthropist Graeme Wood, Crikey is reporting.
A statement is expected to be released tomorrow.
According to Crikey, the move came after “festering tensions came to a head last week in an office showdown.”
The Global Mail launched as an online only title in February of this year, with a five year funding commitment from Wood, who has donated $15m to the project.
When Mumbrella interviewed Attard in January she described her role at the title as “the journo’s equivalent of winning the lottery”.
When Encore magazine featured the Global Mail, the editorial team was comprised of 13 journalists, a director of photography, two web producers and a media manager. That team looks to have undergone a shift with more weight at the top, with Attard being listed alongside Mike Bowers, Ben Fogarty, Annemarie Johnson and CEO Jane Nicholls on the Global Mail team page. Crikey’s sources claim that conflict with Nicholls, former editor-at-large of People US, was the cause of Attard’s move.
Attard is a former presenter of MediaWatch and has won several prestigious Walkley Awards. Mumbrella could not reach a spokesperson for the Global Mail or Attard herself at time of writing.
Cue hasty removal of the Global Mail story that appeared in the Opinion/Features column
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Sadly this is less conspiracy and more a glitch – the story (which first ran in Encore magazine last month) is here: https://mumbrella.com.au/journalisms-new-model-90390.
cheers, Cathie
Graeme: A word of advice… It would be a good idea to appoint an editor with some management experience. Editing is 75 per cent people management and 25 per cent editorial. Best of luck. Journalism needs you.
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I checked out the Global Mail when it first launched and I reckon it is just a giant irrelevant digital hole to pour $15 mill into. It has no hook at all. There is no big idea behind it. There are dozens of other online products doing a far better job. There’s no attitude and it’s not even particularly insightful. Where is the SEO? Where is the social media component? I put this down to poor editorial direction and a 20th century old media approach to new media. It’s a shame because it’s not everyday someone throws $15 mill at an online publishing project.
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After spending the back end of 2011 telling us that they’d be arriving like journalism’s white knight in 2012, The Global Mail launched with a whimper. They had, what, a year to come up with a big story or two and launch with a bang? I was honestly expecting a “stop cattle exports to Indonesia”-type cannonball on the first day but instead I got …. erm … I ah, I … I can’t even remember the stories they were that dull/irrelevant. My advice; break some big stories, make a bit of noise and – provided you’ve fixed all the other problems (like the idiotic horizontal scroll) – people might be curious about what you’re doing and, you know, wanna visit your site.
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