Julia Naughton appointed head of life at Nine’s metro titles with ambitious plan to grow travel, lifestyle and culture content
Naughton has been appointed head of life at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times and WAToday, overseeing an ambitious plan to digitally elevate Travel, Lifestyle and Culture content across Nine’s metro mastheads.
Currently, lifestyle content director with the mastheads, Naughton’s new role will see her grow one of Australia’s most renowned travel brands, Traveller, as demand for post-Covid travel builds, as well as managing and building the Lifestyle and Culture offering.
Naughton’s appointment follows a competitive internal application process and will see her work closely with the commercial and subscription teams.
Naughton said of her new role: “Taking the lead on Culture, Lifestyle and Travel at the best newsrooms in the country is tremendously exciting. The pandemic years made it clear how hungry people are for intelligent and informative storytelling, and that extends across all areas of culture, personal health and relationships, fashion and travel.”
“These are all topics I’ve loved weaving together throughout my career and it’s a privilege to step into the role at a time of ambitious growth at the mastheads.”
Julia Naughton joined the mastheads in 2020 as lifestyle editor, before being promoted to lifestyle content director.
This role has seen her expand her remit to Sunday Life magazine where she has driven the digital and social strategy, and launched the magazine’s inaugural Trailblazers Issue. She has also launched various content series that has engaged subscribers including the recent Sleep series of features.
Previous to that, she served as nine.com.au’s managing editor (lifestyle and entertainment) where she oversaw 9Honey, and has also been an associate editor at The Huffington Post Australia and a features writer at Cosmopolitan Magazine.
Welcoming her appointment, executive editor Tory Maguire said Naughton’s focus on digital growth and innovation will ensure travel, lifestyle and culture content will continue to lead the Australian market.
“In the time since Julia joined the metros as Lifestyle editor her results have been incredible. She understands instinctively how to commission and edit stories, while also being highly skilled with audience data.
“She’s a terrific leader who will be a huge asset to the metros senior editor ranks,” Maguire added.
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Top image: Julia Naughton