Private Media goes ‘back to the future’ for Peter Fray replacement at Crikey
Private Media has appointed Sophie Black as the editor-in-chief of Crikey, following the exit of Peter Fray earlier this month.
Black has held various roles within the company, including as the editor-in-chief of Private Media’s mastheads including Crikey, The Mandarin, Women’s Agenda, Startup Smart and Smart Company from 2014.
Sophie Black and Gina Rushton
She last departed the company in 2015 with plans to publish a book and possibly seek to take on an academic fellowship at the time.
Gina Rushton has also been appointed editor and Jack Callil as opinion editor.
Private Media CEO, Will Hayward told Mumbrella: “Crikey publishes what the powerful hide and other media avoids. Exciting to have Sophie and Gina lead us into a new era. Back to the Future, you might say.”
Black said: “I’m so excited by the prospect of working with newly appointed editor Gina Rushton and the Crikey team to build on this masthead’s legacy of true editorial independence.
“I’m keen to engage some of the vital writers I’ve encountered in my last role in collaboration with our newly appointed opinion editor Jack Callil while Gina and I work with Crikey’s team of reporters and contributors to deliver investigations with impact.
The country is facing down momentous questions this year. It’s an essential time to highlight hypocrisy and pick necessary fights. Gina and I are ready to get stuck in to ensure Crikey continues to call out Canberra, corporations and the media to scrutinise the gap between what they say and what they do. We’ll be picking apart the policy versus the soundbites and finding new ways to tap into our own highly connected readers’ insights.”
According to Black’s LinkedIn, she was the head of publishing at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne before returning to Crikey.
Private Media made Black’s predecessor, Fray, redundant earlier this month as both the editor-in-chief of Crikey and managing editor of the broader publishing group due to an “editorial restructuring”.
This came after Fray was placed on leave by the company after an outburst at the Walkley Awards last year, while three ABC journalists were giving their acceptance speech, expressing his dissatisfaction over the lack of nomination for Crikey reporter Amber Schultz. He later tweeted an apology.
However, Fray will remain involved with Private Media’s legal defence against News Corp’s co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch, who is suing Crikey for defamation over an article published in June 2022 that referred to the Murdoch family as the “unindicted co-conspirator” in the US Capitol attack.
Crikey was named Newsletter of the Year at Mumbrella’s Publish Awards in 2022.
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Darcy Song was a reporter at Mumbrella, covering media owners, adtech and social platforms. She left in October 2023.
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