Schwartz Media has offered off The Month-to-month’s well-liked day by day politics column, The Politics, to former Betoota Advocate writer and Each day Aus investor Piers Grove for an unknown sum. It’s understood the sale went by way of in early November 2023.
The brand new spinoff web site might be led by Rachel Withers as editor-in-chief; Withers at the moment serves as contributing editor of the column.
Crikey understands the sale triggered two redundancies — together with Withers, who accepted a transfer throughout to the brand new publication.
A draft press launch, seen by Crikey, described the brand new enterprise as “an thrilling alternative to broaden The Politics, bringing the progressive, no-bullshit angle in the direction of Canberra politics you’ve come to know and love from The Politics publication to a brand new media outlet”.
Present subscribers to the day by day e mail, which can stay free, might be transferred over to the brand new web site in early February. Withers will proceed to pen the day by day column from Monday to Thursday, with RRR’s Daniel James on the helm on Fridays.
Grove served for six years on the nationwide committee for the Australian Republican Motion, in addition to a bevy of local weather organisations and startups. His expertise in publishing is primarily amongst progressive and youth-focused shops, having began because the founding writer of The Betoota Advocate in 2014. In September 2019, Grove additionally took over as writer of Instagram-focused outlet The Each day Aus.
In December 2021, Grove stepped down from each shops to take over youth information web site Junkee as writer, after it was purchased out by RACAT Group. Inside a yr, Junkee was going through accusations of dysfunction, heavy losses and a mass exodus of employees, as revealed in a Crikey investigation. Grove subsequently offered his stake within the enterprise to RACAT and stepped away from the organisation.
Talking to Crikey, Grove mentioned he “regarded ahead to rising and increasing The Politics and broadening the masthead” transferring ahead.
Withers informed Crikey she was “stoked to have the possibility to create one other dwelling for sensible, progressive politics in Australia”.
“I’ve all the time wished to launch one thing like this, and it looks like precisely the proper time (sure, even amid mass layoffs) for one thing contemporary, youth-led, and freed from most of the constraints going through different media shops,” she mentioned.
The Month-to-month editor Michael Williams confirmed to Crikey that “Schwartz Media and The Month-to-month may have no additional editorial or enterprise involvement with The Politics”.
Williams added that The Month-to-month crew was “extraordinarily happy with the next that has constructed up for The Politics, and its deserved repute as a spot for sensible, engaged day by day political content material and might be eager readers of it in its new standalone type”.
Schwartz Media founder Morry Schwartz and editor-in-chief Erik Jensen didn’t reply for remark.
