The way young people access news and information has changed dramatically. There has been an explosion in online media outlets aimed at the youth market in recent years and many media organisations are using sophisticated social media strategies to connect with younger audiences. Spook, Junkee, Broadsheet and NineMSN are targeting the newsfeeds of young people all over Australia.
We’ll ask editors from these titles how they’re keeping up inside a rapidly changing online environment, and whether there’s more to online journalism than gif-heavy Netflix recaps.
Hosted by Anders Furze with Nick Melin, Steph Harmon, Tim Fisher and Sam Downing.
This event is also available as part of a Thursday Day Pass.
Featuring
Anders Furze
Anders Furze is film critic in residence at The Citizen and Program & Communications Coordinator at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. His writing on film, television and popular culture has been published in Junkee, the Age, Mubi Notebook and Screen Machine journal. In 2014, he was a participant in the Melbourne International Film Festival’s inaugural Critics Campus.
Nick Melin
Nick Melin is the current editor and co-founder of SPOOK magazine – a cross digital/print publication centered around pop culture, politics, gender and the arts. During his time at SPOOK, Nick has managed the growth of the magazine from humble beginnings as a small blog to a printed publication released across 37 countries, and finally to the digital platform as it exists today.
His short career has also involved working as a marketing consultant for Crave Agency and as media coordinator for the Environmental Film Festival Melbourne. Outside his role at SPOOK, Nick is also currently writing a TV series, playing lots of Uno and trying his best to avoid paleo restaurants.
Steph Harmon
Steph Harmon is founding and managing editor of Junkee, a politics, pop culture and comment site which publishes work from some of the best young journalists and writers around Australia. Prior to Junkee, Steph was the editor of music and arts streetpress The Brag, and founding editor of arts and culture website Throw Shapes. She occasionally appears on ABC radio, FBi Radio and The Project, and tweets from @stephharmon.
Tim Fisher
Tim Fisher is the editorial director of Broadsheet Media.
In the past decade Tim has edited a range of websites and magazines for publishers including Architecture Media, News Corp and Morrison Media, where he became the longest-serving editor of Surfing Life magazine. He has worked in communications for non-profit organisations and taught online journalism at RMIT. His writing has appeared in the Age, Smith Journal, triple j Magazine and elsewhere, and he is a board member of the Emerging Writers’ Festival.
Sam Downing
Sam Downing is a Sydney-based journalist and the editor of ninemsn Pickle and ninemsn Coach – two websites which launched in April 2015, respectively covering viral/animal and diet/fitness news.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Newcastle, he has spent 10 years working in digital news, covering topics including breaking news, celebrity gossip, US politics and (of course) cat videos.
Sam's other projects at ninemsn include Australian Vintage, a tour of Aussie history through archive photos. He's a dog person, despite what everyone seems to assume.