Sharri Markson named new media editor for The Australian, vows to bring more ‘attitude’
The Australian has this morning announced Sharri Markson has accepted the role of media editor, with the former Cleo editor signalling there will be no let up in the battle between News Corp and the ABC telling Mumbrella: “I enjoy a good media war”.
Markson replaces Nick Leys who announced earlier this week that he had accepted a role at the ABC as head of corporate communications, after just a fortnight in the role.
Speaking to Mumbrella this morning Markson, the section’s sixth editor in five years, said it will have “attitude” under her editorship.
“It’s going to be an exciting section every Monday. An addictive must-read media section with attitude and breaking stories”, said Markson.
“I accepted the job yesterday, it is one of the best jobs in journalism. It is a really exciting area there is huge potential for the section — it’s a must read for anyone in the marketing, media and public relations industry and I can’t wait to break stories and get stuck in,” she said.
“My approach will be to break stories and make sure we are ahead in every single area and to make sure we beat Mumbrella, AdNews and the Financial Review on every single yarn. I’m the most competitive person around.”
Markson’s competitive nature was revealed last year, by the section she will now edit, when she found to have rifled through the bin of rival Bauer title Cosmopolitan for information about their upcoming edition. She has also appeared on the ABC’s Media Watch program which criticised her in the wake of the London 7/7 bombings for sneaking into a hospital with flowers to find Australian victims of the attack.
In November, last year Markson announced she was leaving Bauer Media after the publisher announced it was merging the editorial teams of Cleo and sister publication Dolly to be led by one editor, with Markson who had been in the role for only 11 months, reportedly choosing not to apply for the role which went to Lucy Cousins.
Asked how she would cover her former employer Markson said she did not see an issue.
“Everyone who has worked as media editor has worked at different companies before I don’t think that’s a drama at all. I have worked at News Limited, I’ve worked at Channel Seven, I’ve worked at Bauer I think that just gives me more experiences and more contacts to do the job really really well,” she said.
With The Australian focusing much of its coverage, in recent days, on the ABC and the government’s criticism of the public broadcaster Markson said she had no problem with the editorial line taken by editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell.
“I enjoy a good media war. I welcome it,” she said.
However, she also added that she was perplexed by her predecessor Nick Leys’ decision to move to a corporate spin doctor role.
“I find it hard to understand if you’re a journo and you’re a true journo why you would take a job doing PR like Nick Leys has,” said Markson. “It will be interesting to see what he does.”
Markson is a former chief of staff at the Sunday Telegraph and senior producer at Channel Seven. While at Seven Markson was part of the team that won a Walkley Award for its coverage of how NSW Government favoured big political donors with its decision to support ethanol blended petrol.
She will start at The Australian on February 17.
Nic Christensen
She’s certainly kicked off with a whole bunch of cliches:
“addictive must read”
“attitude and breaking stories”
“one of the best jobs in journalism”
“huge potential”
Yawn.
Let’s be honest – it will just be more of the same ABC and Fairfax bashing crap. And I think writing that sort of nonsels at Chris Mitchell’s behest has to be one of the worst jobs in journalism.
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“I find it hard to understand if you’re a journo and you’re a true journo why you would take a job doing PR like Nick Leys has,” said Markson. “It will be interesting to see what he does.”
Is it just me that finds that statement vaguely insulting to both PRs and journos?
All the best Nick. All the best Sherri (I do in all seriousness look forward to her shaking things up!)
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“I find it hard to understand if you’re a journo and you’re a true journo why you would take a job doing PR like Nick Leys has,” said Markson.
Bloody oath, that’s poor form and a worrying sign that she lacks class. Play the ball and not the man, Sharri.
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I find The Australian Media section very dull these days. It used to cover marketing and advertising, but that seems to have gone by the wayside. It has become the one-eyed cheerleader for whatever business interest Murdoch wants to pursue. At the moment it would appear to be lobbying the government to slash the budget and scope of the ABC’s operations. Like a petulant child who has had their lollies taken away from it, News Corp believe they have a devine right to commercial success and will plough down anyone they believe threatens that. Then there is the relentless Fairfax bashing. It’s getting very old and boring.
The media editor’s job has to be one of the easiest at the Oz. Just do as you’re told by Mitchell and Murdoch, without question, and you’re golden.
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Sharri Markson will have to make a choice between writing PR crap which will please her boss or writing real stories which will please everyone else.
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Agree that the section isn’t what it once was. It’s thinner than my hairline and with no ad revenue to support it, can’t see that changing any time soon (and really, the only people who read it are media wankers to see if they’re in it or it’s putting the boot into their opposition.)
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Talks a lot, doesn’t she? And in cliches too, like a wome’s mag editor.
Interesting that none of the Oz’s own staff were apparently interested in the role.
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What’s ‘The Australian’?
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By comparison, I reckon Sharri’s well up for the job of being a Murdoch mouthpiece, and I agree with others here at Media has fallen way down from the section it used to be when it launched… it really was a must-read, relatively independent (probably had to deliberately work very hard to be seen so, given the concerns over Murdoch-bias when it first launched) and covered everything in this industry. Sadly like all other print sections it’s declined in pages, no doubt online ventures like Mumbrella are proving far more effective for reaching this audience; and it’s also declined in quality to become largely a ‘bully pulpit’ for Murdoch proxies, when I read any headline which has any connection to the Murdoch World View I immediately discount that story’s content and most of the time skip over it completely.
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@Caro is there anyone left at the media section beyond Darren Davidson and Sally Jackson? Look at all the departures from the Oz media section in just two years: Amanda Meade, Stephen Brook, Simon Canning, Nic Christensen, Lara Sinclair (haven’t seen her byline in a while), Nick Tabakoff now Nick Leys… And now it’s just three pages.
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I like the irony of having a crack at Nick for being the ABC’s PR man when the Oz media has been Foxtel’s PR arm for years now.
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Dr Oyvind, ‘The Australian’ is a very rightwing newspaper published locally and is owned by a foreign publishing company which is run by a man who fled Australia in the pursuit of money and became an American.
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“It’s going to be an exciting section every Monday. An addictive must-read media section with attitude and breaking stories”, said Markson.”
Breaking stories? After they’ve been on mUmBRELLA and TV Tonight for almost a week.
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Always looked forward to Monday’s Oz for the Media section.
Until that section became a couple of pages.
At best…
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“I find it hard to understand if you’re a journo and you’re a true journo why you would take a job doing PR like Nick Leys has,” said Markson. “It will be interesting to see what he does.”
When she becomes a journalist she may find out.
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Didn’t she roll out the same quotes (attitude, must read, exciting, must-read, addictive ,best job in journalism yadeya..) when she took on the editorship of Cleo? All of 11 months ago….
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Her comments are cringeworthy.
I agree that the only people who read it are those searching for a mention of their own name! Sharri perhaps on a slow news day you could just write about yourself?
Newspapers aren’t what they used to be. They used to be written by smart mature people with a well formulated voice. Why do you think hardly anyone reads them anymore?
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It’s a tad disconcerting that of all the comments here, no-one seems to take serious umbrage with the word ‘attitude’ in the context of ‘news’. If the reputability of a media outlet is based on unbiased, objective reporting, surely the admission that The Australian plans to mach-out its stories in tats and backward facing baseball caps contradicts the very essence of its remit? Am I the only one left who doesn’t want my news poppin’ fakey inverted corkscrews and Smith-grindin’ the coping? Have we become so desensitised to the fact the mainstream news of today is patently sensationalised that we just accept it? Reminds me of Bauer touting its commitment to exceptional standards in journalism while syndicating stories from the UK and changing the event location to a Sydney suburb, dismissing it as a typo, then getting caught performing the same ruse on the NZ market, then claiming to hire more people to ensure it doesn’t happen again. How does it take more people to not change the ‘facts’ of a story? There was a time when the public trusted the mainstream media. They no longer do. No wonder…
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Seriously Sharri – you sound like a silly young schoolgirl
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