Guardian Australia has made four hires, and is looking to make two more, as it amplifies its state news offering in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
“State news is critical to readers’ lives – especially so amid the ongoing pandemic – yet the limited space on our national front page has restricted our ability to provide it,” said Guardian Australia editor, Lenore Taylor.
“We are really excited about this opportunity to better serve our readers.”
The new hires include:
• Conal Hanna as associate editor (state news). Conal will be leading Guardian Australia’s state news expansion, establishing and editing the three new containers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
• Tamsin Rose as NSW state reporter.
• Benita Kolovos as Victoria state correspondent.
• Adeshola Ore as Victoria reporter.
Guardian Australia is also looking to hire two political and general reporters for the Queensland reporting team.
In addition to the new hires, Guardian Australia has made two internal appointments. Ben Smee has been appointed Queensland state correspondent, and Michael McGowan has been appointed NSW state correspondent.
In December, The Guardian surpassed 1 million digital subscriptions, with digital subscriptions in the US and Australia rising by 13% vs prior year. The company has grown its total digital recurring support by 87% in just three years.
See More: The Guardian reaches 1m digital subscriptions, Aust & US grow 13% YOY
At the end of November 2021, the Guardian reported a total of 1,000,035 digital subscriptions, comprising 419,541 digital subscriptions and 580,494 recurring contributions from supporters in 180 countries around the world.
Just over 50% of the Guardian’s digital recurring support base – more than 500,000 subscriptions – now reside outside of the UK, with the biggest groups in the US, Australia and the European Union. The Guardian’s international revenues grew by 26% in FY 2020-21, now representing over 30% of the publisher’s total revenue (up from 25% in the prior year).