Mark Dapin parts ways with SMH’s Good Weekend
Mark Dapin has become one of the first major departures under new Good Weekend editor Ben Naparstek.
After the removal of Dapin’s column from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Saturday magazine, he has revealed that he is not writing for the title at all. Naparstek had previously claimed to The Australian that Dapin would be writing features after the axing of the column of which a hallmark was generous use of asterisks.
But Dapin blogged: “I no longer write for Good Weekend
Also the full-point on my keyboard has ceased to function*
“*But not the asterisk”
Dapin also linked to an animated reenactment of his firing (NSFW):
Naparstek was appointed to Good Weekend in December last year.
Mumbrella editor Tim Burrowes talks to Mark Dapin about his column in 2010:
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Gold. That re-enactment is the funniest video I’ve seen in ages. No reason to read GW anymore then – Dapin’s words were worth 75% of the Sat SMH/Age’s cover price.
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I’m with John. This was the first page i would always flick to (and sometimes the last!). I wondered why he hadnt come back from his Christmas break. Poor form GW….huge loss. Great video though!
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Yawn. Long over Dapin’s formulaic self-indulgent writing. Waste of space, waste of editorial budget.
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Finally, shaking up that mag! Nice move Ben.
GW had gotten so boring – and in the last 6 months I used it to cure my insomnia.
Bring it all on Boy Wonder.
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GW has become a total, irrelevant bore and needs a shake-out. Any good editor knows to regularly change his/her writers to keep things fresh. Dapin, too, seemed like he was struggling to do anything fresh, so probably best for both parties involved.
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Yes at long last. The GW was getting stale and old. (edited under MUmbrella’s comment moderation policy)
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Great news! Woo!
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Now let’s dump Danny Katz and the rest of the waffle and maybe, just maybe, GW can get back to being a good solid read.
Budget cuts are of course part of all this, as cited in The Australian media section report, I can well imagine that all these ‘star’ writers cost GW a packet and does anybody really buy GW just for them? Of course not. Columnists are part of the mix but too often they seem to think they are the star attraction.
Also, can’t help but comment on Dapin’s observation in The Aus, where he told them in regard to reduced contrib rates: “I’m 48 years old and a prominent author and feature writer. If I took this deal I would be on less than a J9 journalist.”
Well I’m sorry Mark but this is the real world, the market is tighter and nobody can afford the ritzy rates of the good old days or at least the not-as-bad-as-they-are-now old days. Plenty of great J9s out there, and being 48 years old doesn’t matter squat. As for being a prominent feature writer, well yes, you’re a great feature writer so go and write more of those great features, but at market rates.
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Maybe he could work for Dad?
But that Dapin fella looks a bit of a tough nut. He may end up punching Dad in the mouth and then mum would have to sue him in all the courts Australia has to offer.
Simultaneously….
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Surprised? Not so much.
The whole free insert thing feels nearly as dated as the ‘boy genius’ narrative; Naparstek will need more luck axing the horrendous great getaways advertorials.
Snore.
C***.
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Dapin is a good writer but getting rid of him is a good decision. He’d run out of things to say. GW needs to freshen up its content, and this is a good start.
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I only bought Saturday’s SMH for the Good Weekend magazine and with the departure of all the columnists from both GW and S.Life, the mags are getting pretty thin. I’ll need to find the family some new loo reading now.
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Now, can someone please do something about Nikki Gemmell and Phillip Adams at The Australian’s Weekend Magazine? Pretty please?
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Yeah good move Ben. GW has become DULL, no reasons needed as to why the recent acting editor didn’t get the gig. Good luck Dapin, perhaps you can write on mamamia or the monthly?
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I never got that column. He’s a hack with great connections.
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The only time i bought The Age was to get the GW, and the only reason for this was to read Mark’s column or articles…no need to buy now…
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sorry to hear about mark. i just hope they don’t cut the samurai sudoku – what i look forward to most on saturday morning!
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As a once-sacked columnist myself, I can assure you it only happens to the most talented of writers.
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Hoping he doesn’t get rid of Danny Katz….
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That video smacked of the delusional David Brent!
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Any journalist-feature writer on a major city daily or its mags is lucky to still have a job. Dapin should stop sooking – he had a good go. I took a payout and ran a few years back – best thing I ever did after the way News and Fairfax have desimated their writing staffs in particular. Ninety-nine per cent of the population is not interested in decent writing that tells a story any more – all they want is to go online where girly bloggers talk about PMT and they can watch endless stupid videos of dancing cats. The 10 second attention span rules – don’t write anything more than 200 words and make sure they’re really simple. And Joe Hildebrand … please. If you’re a proper journalist – and not just a, umh, funny columnist – why do you and the Telegraph keep parroting Alan Joyce’s press releases about how wonderful the new Qantas venture into Asia is going to be? Seeing how the whole thing collapsed last week perhaps you should take a leaf out of Ian Verrender’s book in the Herald y’day about how Alan goes to Asia was a sham from the start. It’s called reporting, journalism 101, not a strong point at the Tele any more.
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What a stupid move! Long time GW reader & absolutely loved MD’s column for genuine LOLs, as well as his great feature writing. Will be looking out for Mark’s next move & will buy/ subscribe to anything where he’s writing (or now, also anywhere he’s making videos). Love your work Mark – you’re a multimedia genius! As for Ben Naparstek, hard to disagree with the assessment in the video.
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Really miss Mark Dapin’s articles… Always the best features in GW. Such a crack up. Good luck Mark!
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I loved Mark’s articles…you people that didn”t are cnts
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