Thanks to Fiona Katauskas. |
Welcome to the 100th issue of New Matilda — quite a milestone for an independent voice in the corporatised, homogenised mediasphere of the early 21st century. This week, we’re bringing you a number of our regular commentators (Robert Fisk in Lebanon, Michael Brissenden in Canberra, Hugo Kelly and Emma Dawson in Melbourne, and Jane Caro in Sydney) along with a diverse group of irregulars (Shadow Minister Lindsay Tanner, Chris Reed in Japan and Adam Fenderson) and newcomers (Linda Jaivin, Elise Potaka and Richard Chauvel).
In my first editorial (for issue 51) I said:
Readers are abandoning newspapers because we know that we’re being treated like dolts and dullards, and we know that there ought to be a better way to sell us the news. Online news publication is the future of journalism. And the most exciting thing about it is that it’s still relatively open-ended. We’re on a rollercoaster ride, but we’re not quite sure where we’ll end up.
The first 100 issues of New Matilda have been a rollercoaster ride, thankfully with more ups than downs. We don’t have the huge resources of behemoths like News Ltd and Fairfax, but we also don’t have the constraints.
In a relatively short time, New Matilda has made a name for itself for publishing a lively mix of news, reportage, commentary and opinion that questions the accepted spin and the acceptable ‘line’ produced by entrenched interests across the political divide.
We will continue to do so.
Our subscribers now number over 4,700 and our hits have grown to over 3 million per month. We now produce the magazine and the policy review on separate days (Wednesday and Friday, respectively). The latest State launch of New Matilda‘s Human Rights Act campaign just happened in Darwin (see Helen Reynolds report in this issue and the next launch will be in Melbourne on Sunday 13 August (download the flyer here). We have put on fully-fledged stage shows in Sydney and Melbourne (SEDITION!), we’ve sponsored special screenings of movies, and we’re organising panel discussions and other events around the country.
There’s a lot happening around New Matilda and there’s a lot to do.
Cheers
José
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