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| Katharine Viner answers your questions: live Q&A | Katharine Viner answers your questions: live Q&A |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Guardian Australia turned six months this week. Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, will be answering your questions starting at 12.30 AEST. | Guardian Australia turned six months this week. Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, will be answering your questions starting at 12.30 AEST. |
| Ask her anything – she will be taking questions about Guardian Australia's first six months, the Guardian/ABC scoop about Australia spying on Indonesia, the Ashes and more. Post your questions below. | Ask her anything – she will be taking questions about Guardian Australia's first six months, the Guardian/ABC scoop about Australia spying on Indonesia, the Ashes and more. Post your questions below. |
| Could you estimate the daily reach of the Guardian Australia in Australia and benchmark it against the established online publishers with print publications such as the SMH.com.au & dailytelegraph.com.au? | Could you estimate the daily reach of the Guardian Australia in Australia and benchmark it against the established online publishers with print publications such as the SMH.com.au & dailytelegraph.com.au? |
| Are you happy with those in roads into the Australian media landscape? | Are you happy with those in roads into the Australian media landscape? |
| How much growth do you expect the Guardian will make in 2014 with British rival the MailOnline making an appearance? | How much growth do you expect the Guardian will make in 2014 with British rival the MailOnline making an appearance? |
| Six months (and one day) after launch, we're far beyond where we expected to be; it's been fantastic. Nielsen figures are good, but our own internal figures are even better. As for the Mail - all plurality is good, but I don't see us as 'rivals' as such.. we cover very different things. | Six months (and one day) after launch, we're far beyond where we expected to be; it's been fantastic. Nielsen figures are good, but our own internal figures are even better. As for the Mail - all plurality is good, but I don't see us as 'rivals' as such.. we cover very different things. |
| Hi Katharine! You cannot imagine how grateful we are that Guardian Australia is offering a quality alternative media source in Australia. Are you satisfied with the trends of numbers of readers using the site? Can you share any of them with us? | Hi Katharine! You cannot imagine how grateful we are that Guardian Australia is offering a quality alternative media source in Australia. Are you satisfied with the trends of numbers of readers using the site? Can you share any of them with us? |
| Thank you! Nielsen shows that we've overtaken the Australian and the Telegraph in reach already, and our internal figures show us doing even better than that. But the best thing is that we're seeing great engagement, with people returning day after day to read what we're doing. | Thank you! Nielsen shows that we've overtaken the Australian and the Telegraph in reach already, and our internal figures show us doing even better than that. But the best thing is that we're seeing great engagement, with people returning day after day to read what we're doing. |
| Are you profitable? If not, when? | Are you profitable? If not, when? |
| Guardian Australia only launched in May and it's already way, way ahead of plan. | Guardian Australia only launched in May and it's already way, way ahead of plan. |
| What's the thing you're most proud of doing in the last six months? | What's the thing you're most proud of doing in the last six months? |
| Getting Guardian Australia to where it is now, with a thriving team of journalists and commercial staff, leading the news agenda for ten days in a row (and counting...) with the Indonesia spying story, with fantastic coverage of politics, asylum, indigenous affairs, the arts, the Ashes, even Aussie rules footy..... And finding a whole load of new voices writing about Australian affairs... When in February there were two of us in an tiny office on Pitt St with internet so bad that we couldn't Skype! | Getting Guardian Australia to where it is now, with a thriving team of journalists and commercial staff, leading the news agenda for ten days in a row (and counting...) with the Indonesia spying story, with fantastic coverage of politics, asylum, indigenous affairs, the arts, the Ashes, even Aussie rules footy..... And finding a whole load of new voices writing about Australian affairs... When in February there were two of us in an tiny office on Pitt St with internet so bad that we couldn't Skype! |
| Hi Katharine, | Hi Katharine, |
| How long did you sit on the Indonesian spying story before releasing the information? Are the allegations true that you waited until after the election so that the fall-out from the story would negatively impact on the Abbot Gvt? | How long did you sit on the Indonesian spying story before releasing the information? Are the allegations true that you waited until after the election so that the fall-out from the story would negatively impact on the Abbot Gvt? |
| As I've said many times, the story emerged only the week before we published it. Of course its publication wasn't politically motivated and no one has any evidence for that whatsoever, because it doesn't exist. Since the Guardian in the US received the Snowden papers in May, the US team has been going through them in a very careful, responsible way, which takes a lot of time. We've published at least 17 major international stories based on the papers since then, and we''ve so far published stories based on less than one per cent of the material we were given. This isn't the great conspiracy that some people are trying to suggest. | As I've said many times, the story emerged only the week before we published it. Of course its publication wasn't politically motivated and no one has any evidence for that whatsoever, because it doesn't exist. Since the Guardian in the US received the Snowden papers in May, the US team has been going through them in a very careful, responsible way, which takes a lot of time. We've published at least 17 major international stories based on the papers since then, and we''ve so far published stories based on less than one per cent of the material we were given. This isn't the great conspiracy that some people are trying to suggest. |
| Hey Kath, | Hey Kath, |
| I'd like to know, how does Guardian reporter Oliver Laughland keep his hair looking so great? I think the public has the right to know. | I'd like to know, how does Guardian reporter Oliver Laughland keep his hair looking so great? I think the public has the right to know. |
| Seriously, it's a brilliant head of hair. | Seriously, it's a brilliant head of hair. |
| I believe it's his high-sugar diet | I believe it's his high-sugar diet |
| Great work so far Kath. Have you any plans to expand your local Business Section, and that is not a inference against Greg's work. You have a great team there Kath, keep it rolling!. | Great work so far Kath. Have you any plans to expand your local Business Section, and that is not a inference against Greg's work. You have a great team there Kath, keep it rolling!. |
| Thanks! Everything is on the table at the moment.. | Thanks! Everything is on the table at the moment.. |
| Hi Katharine, | Hi Katharine, |
| Firstly, as a religious Guardian reader for the past 15 years, it was great to see the Aussie edition come in so soon after I moved here. Congrats. | Firstly, as a religious Guardian reader for the past 15 years, it was great to see the Aussie edition come in so soon after I moved here. Congrats. |
| My question is, did you see the article from Paul Sheehan from the SMH? It is here for those who haven't http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-10-ways-out-of-this-mess-20131124-2y3se.html | My question is, did you see the article from Paul Sheehan from the SMH? It is here for those who haven't http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-10-ways-out-of-this-mess-20131124-2y3se.html |
| This statement caught my eye in particular: "There's not much point in calling into question the judgment of the Prime Minister, and his chief pollster, without calling into question the judgment of the people who started this conflagration, Katharine Viner, the editor The Guardian Australia, and Mark Scott, the managing director of the ABC." | This statement caught my eye in particular: "There's not much point in calling into question the judgment of the Prime Minister, and his chief pollster, without calling into question the judgment of the people who started this conflagration, Katharine Viner, the editor The Guardian Australia, and Mark Scott, the managing director of the ABC." |
| I would have expected this from one of the Murdoch papers, but to call into question the ethics of breaking such an important story from a Fairfax paper was a surprise to me. Thoughts? | I would have expected this from one of the Murdoch papers, but to call into question the ethics of breaking such an important story from a Fairfax paper was a surprise to me. Thoughts? |
| In a democracy, with a free press, it's important to have a whole range of voices on such an important issues as this. | In a democracy, with a free press, it's important to have a whole range of voices on such an important issues as this. |
| Fairfax have started putting a walled garden around their online papers, I believe it is thirty articles per month and then it blocks access. How do you see the payment model of online newspapers playing out? | Fairfax have started putting a walled garden around their online papers, I believe it is thirty articles per month and then it blocks access. How do you see the payment model of online newspapers playing out? |
| I think paywalls work for some organisations and not for others; the jury is out. At the Guardian, we are hoping to keep access open as much as possible, because we value engaging with readers in an open way and think that paywalls are in opposition to open journalism. But they may work for others, especially those with more specialist content. | I think paywalls work for some organisations and not for others; the jury is out. At the Guardian, we are hoping to keep access open as much as possible, because we value engaging with readers in an open way and think that paywalls are in opposition to open journalism. But they may work for others, especially those with more specialist content. |
| Hi Katherine | Hi Katherine |
| Has the Guardian Australia been accepted by the Canberra press pack - do you have accreditation etc or our Fairfax and Murdoch Inc circling the wagons? | Has the Guardian Australia been accepted by the Canberra press pack - do you have accreditation etc or our Fairfax and Murdoch Inc circling the wagons? |
| I'm not sure that anyone could stop the formidable force that is Lenore Taylor and Katharine Murphy! | I'm not sure that anyone could stop the formidable force that is Lenore Taylor and Katharine Murphy! |
| Firstly, thanks for launching here, media diversity is great for democracy.. | |
| If you were launching a new publication again, what would you do differently? | |
| More generally, do you see personally see a future for print journalism, that is to say, not exclusively online? | |
| V interesting question about print. I really don't know what its future is. In the UK our papers are still performing well, particularly at the weekend, and the Guardian Weekly is going from strength to strength (particularly in Australia). There's still an audience for print - I enjoy reading it myself... sometimes...! | |
| Hi Katharine. | |
| I'd fairly well given up on Australian newspapers about 12 months ago, only glancing at them to see what stories they were running. I taken to reading the the UK Guardian to get some sort of independent analysis of Australian news. So I was more than happy when I heard the Guardian was coming to Australia. | |
| The paper has slowly taken on a more Australian flavor. I remember one article early on that asked us too identify trees from leaves and they were all English trees. There are still articles that forced-ly go the other way, 'there are more swimming deaths than bushfires, cyclones etc. Like one of those English newspaper stories about Australian snakes and spiders. | |
| One feature of the paper that I find interesting is the different style of comments in the various editions. This becomes more obvious when an article is shared across more than one edition. The English comments are a bit more quaint and aiming at wit, while the Australian ones can be a bit more blunt. | |
| So my question - what efforts are being made to give the Australian edition an Australian cultural identity (something the English often disparage) and in your opinion is there a difference in style of comments in the different editions, and if so what is it. | |
| Getting this right is very important to us and #treegate was a low point! As an international media organisation we're sharing resources with colleagues all around the world, and we're in the process of teaching them about spills, stoushes, rorts, Adam Goodes... As a growing news team in Australia I'm confident we can make this work. | |
| I'd like to ask the question I believe most Guardian readers are thinking about: why on earth have my sensationally witty and apposite BTL comments never received a Guardian Pick? | |
| You're picked | |
| So, when will we see an Australian version of Blind Date? :) | |
| Now that would be fun | |
| Are there any plans to curtail the obvious trolls that take over the comments BTL of articles relating to Australian politics, climate change, asylum seekers etc? | |
| I'm not talking about the individuals that want to post their comments agreeing or disagreeing with the authors or other commenters, and engage in reasonable and polite discussion; but the handful of posters, often with multiple accounts, who shout down anyone with an opinion that differs from theirs, and who become so aggressive as to put others off from posting? | |
| It's clear that there are some out there for whom posting comments on GA is a full-time job, which makes one wonder as to what their purpose is. | |
| I don't recall this being so much of a problem with the UK Guardian, it only becoming noticeable in the months leading up to the launch of GA - the reporting of Julia Gillard's misogyny speech being where I saw it first happen, before my fairly innocuous comments on the subject got some aggressive and abusive responses (all of which, I'm pleased to say, were removed fairly quickly). | |
| Hi HardcorePrawn, I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the tone of comments overall since we launched. There are always some difficulties, but we have a great community starting to come together in threads here. You can see that from the questions in this thread - people are, for the most part, thoughtful, considerate, articulate and engaged. And rather heated, to be fair, when politics is in the mix. | |
| It's tricky to balance the need for people to speak freely in comment threads with the importance of making sure everyone feels welcome and able to take part - and it's an ongoing conversation here. If you spot something you think is particularly counterproductive, please do use the report link to give our moderators a chance to take a look. | |
| Have Guardian reporters experienced any blowback from the decision to publish the scoop on Australia spying on Indonesia? Do ministers still return Lenore's calls? (Then again, maybe they never returned calls to begin with?) | |
| Yes, most ministers and staff still return calls. I've been dealing with them all for a long time. Most of the commentary has come from other media organisations. | |
| Pleased to see coverage of the netball on Guardian AU -thanks. Have you had the chance to attend an ANZ Championship or International netball match in Australia yet? | |
| We're really pleased with the response to our netball articles - they regularly outperform pieces on sports that get heavier coverage in the media. We even set off a (mini)-storm in Malawi over one of our stories: | |
| http://mwnation.com/australia-paper-lashes-nam/ | |
| I went to a championship match between the Swifts and the Tactix and had such a fantastic time I tried to sign up for a season ticket – only to find out it was the end of the season. (Terrible timing. But not too long to wait now). Great match, brilliant atmosphere, and I was really struck by the number of teenage girls in the crowd, supporting a sport they also play. I found that pretty uplifting. | |
| I'm really enjoying netball here. Both in terms of coverage – I sit next to Tom Lutz and bore him about it regularly – and playing. Tho I must say, I'm not much of an asset to my team: I think the level of social playing is higher in Aus than the UK. | |
| Hi Katharine, love the service that the Guardian is providing but have to say - the quality of comment and opinion is distinctly second rate compared to that of the UK guardian. | |
| This is a view shared by several people I have talked to - not just my thoughts. | |
| Would love to see some intellectually rigorous and well thought out analysis, rather than angry polemics. | |
BTW suggest you read some of Catherine Deveney's articles - I have no idea why in god's name you continue to publish her. | |
| I'm sorry you feel this way - analysis sits outside of comment, but we're always keen to hear about what you'd like to read more of (and yes, less of). | |
| So if there's anything you'd like to see written about on the site (or anyone in particular you'd like to see writing for us), let us know and we'll aim to please. | |
| Katharine | |
| Why is GA so soft on Abbott and Co? | |
| In the UK this mob would have been given a far harder time by the Guardian, both pre and post election. | |
| Anybody with a modicum of intelligence knows that they are controlled by a tight group - Credlin, Loughnane, Textor etc. | |
| Try interviewing them, for a start. | |
| We have had a standing request to interview Tony Abbott since we launched six months ago. So far he has been unavailable. But we talk regularly to his staff and ministers. | |
| That's a very strange reading of our approach, and totally wrong. Advertising is completely separate from editorial, and we don't let our advertisers influence our coverage in any way. Our commercial team took ads from Labor, the Liberals and the Greens during the federal election. | |
| Hi Katharine Congratulations on your first six months, it's been a fascinating journey so far. Are there any plans to expand into regular podcasts in line with the longstanding UK audio services? Keep up your essential work. | |
| You might want to listen to the Brisbane festival podcast series we produced in September or the Australian politics weekly podcast we produced in the run up to the election if you haven't already. | |
| I love the UK podcasts too and we hope to produce more over here in 2014 | |
| Thank you for all your interesting questions. It was great to hear from you... 'til next time.... | |
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