Schwartz Media expands audio team with 2 new appointments
Schwartz Media, the publisher of The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, and 7am and The Culture podcasts, has created two new roles that will see an expansion of its audio to make its journalism more accessible for digital audiences.
The editor of 7am Osman Faruqi has been appointed as Schwartz Media’s new head of audio. Faruqi will oversee the expansion of Schwartz Media’s audio titles, with new podcasts and a five-part investigative series expected from the publisher before the end of the year.
Schwartz Media appoints Louise Burke as audience editor and Osman Faruqi as head of audio
Louise Burke has been appointed as Schwartz Media’s new audience editor. Burke will work with the teams at The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, 7am and The Culture to expand their digital reach and act as an advocate in the newsroom for audiences.
Burke will work to optimise the digital delivery of the publications and use an analytics-led approach to investigate new opportunities to grow and increase engagement with audiences across multiple platforms, from social media and search to newsletters, podcast platforms and beyond.
Burke is a journalist, editor and digital media specialist with almost 15 years’ experience in Australia and internationally. She started her career as a business reporter with The West Australian, before working for London’s The Daily Telegraph as home-page editor and assistant foreign editor.
Most recently, she worked for The National in Abu Dhabi, where she managed the delivery of a digital-training program to more than 200 journalists and editorial staff both in the UAE and across bureaus in the Middle East, London and Washington.
Erik Jensen, Schwartz Media’s editor-in-chief, said Faruqi was a natural choice for the promotion. As the editor of 7am, Australia’s most popular daily news podcast, and the host of The Culture, a recently launched weekly arts and culture show, Faruqi was “well placed to lead Schwartz Media’s expansion in audio”.
“Osman has a natural feel for storytelling in audio. He has a sharp news sense, coupled with a deep interest in culture and in people,” Jensen said. “He is the obvious person to fill this role and will lead multiple new projects that we are starting over the next few months.”
Jenson added: “Louise is a keen advocate for audiences and journalism. She has worked at the forefront of digital engagement and brings a wealth of knowledge to her new role. She has a reporter’s instinct for story and a capacity to link that with people. I’m looking forward to working with her as she brings those skills to Schwartz Media.”
Burke said of her new role: “I am absolutely thrilled to join the team at Schwartz Media and to be a part of the next stage of the organisation’s growth. The titles in the Schwartz Media stable are among the best sources of quality journalism in Australia. It is such a privilege to play a role in bringing audiences the kind of intelligent reporting the country needs right now.”
