New Australian news site Global Mail launches
One of the world’s best funded independent journalism projects today launched in Australia.
The Global Mail is the brainchild of former ABC journalist and Media Watch presenter Monica Attard.
It has been funded at around $3m-$4m per year by philanthropist Graeme Wood.
Also on the senior team is former Time Inc editor Jane Nicholls as CEO.
Global Mail’s slogan is “Our audience is our only agenda”.
Attard said: “Our mission is to deliver quality, non-partisan, uncompromising and fearlessly independent journalism for independent minds.
“We’re taking a step back from the breathless, 24/7 news cycle to think, research, inform, provoke and entertain, gloriously unfettered by commercial and other pressures that conventionally shape news and current affairs.”
Although mainly staffed by Australian journalists, The Global Mail aims to take a global outlook.
Attard said: “We are tackling Australian affairs on the basis that we are part of a world community, with our culture, politics, economy and daily lives bound up with the ebb and flow of international affairs.”
Although Wood has guaranteed funding for the venture for the next five years, Nicholls said: “We know we are incredibly lucky to be funded purely to do the best journalism we possibly can, with no commercial pressures. Graeme Wood has generously given us our start; it will be up to us to find innovative ways to tap revenue streams to build our future. Especially given the current media climate in this country, we are passionately committed to remaining free of any commercial interests and also of any influence, perceived or otherwise. We will happily let our audience judge us on those terms.”
The Global Mail will also have d0mestic specialist writers in national affairs; economics and business; science, technology and the environment; arts, culture and religion; and social affairs.
There is also a three-person investigative team. “We will take issues of significant public interest and examine them forensically from every applicable perspective — political, regulatory, social, economic and otherwise. We’ll shine a bright light where vested interests may not want it shone,” said Attard.
The Global Mail’s design is by Josephmark and the website was built by Wood’s digital agency Hunted Media, both Brisbane-based firms.
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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Fingers crossed.
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How refreshing. Lovely design too.
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Good luck, hope it goes well
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I’ll give it a go.
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Continues the trend of australian online news ventures started by established media types making technology and design decisions that are limiting and do more to restrict the success of these ventures than just about anything else they do.
Seems to be something to do with old media’s veneration of words and story on the page over new media’s veneration of internet technology.
And iPadism is great on an iPad but not really anywhere else.
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A Twitter and Facebook feed wouldn’t go astray. Good luck with it all!
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$3-4m a year is a lot for a media business without salespeople. With that cost base they must have 25-35 above average salary full timers on board.
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Oh it is such a good idea, but I can’t seem to scroll sideways it just goes wacky.
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Wow! This site is a sensation. Takes a few minutes to get used to the format so be patient with it. Fabulous images (as big as Gillard’s ego) and knockout takes on all kinds of happenings. Above all it’s engaging, and dare I say it…entertaining! Yes!
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Would like to read this site every day!.
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Would like to tread this site every day!.
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I heard Monica interviewed on Tripple J’s Hack programme yesterday, she was great and anyone part of her team would be privileged. Good luck and looking forward to following the stories.
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Great site, layout is difficult though
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That layout isn’t going to last long: confusing and trendy just for the sake of it.
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A little bit more browser testing!! – Great concept!
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Hey Logic, your logic would be fine if 100% of the funding went as salaries to the writers, and they didn’t have management, legal, finance, rent, IT, programming, bandwidth costs etc.
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OK try but … Mike Seccombe is a well performed hack as are one or two others they have on their list but does anyone care what he thinks about the Super Bowl? He’s not even known as a sports writer. And the mainstream media has already done over electricity prices, the social problems in WA mining towns etc. And what’s happening in Mongolia? Who gives a you know what! Like Crikey, they’ll start out high-minded but as the seed money dries up they’ll have to find themslves a niche audience, as in going to the left as Crikey has done. All the aggregation stuff is just that – raking together other media’s work. Wasn’t Drudge doing that a decade ago?
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