Crikey
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Crikey is an independent Australian email-based reporting service. It was founded by shareholder-activist Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of then Victorian premier Jeff Kennett. It developed out of Mayne's "jeffed.com" website, part of his campaign for Kennett's seat of Burwood, standing as an independent candidate.
Well known in Australian political, media and business circles, Crikey has been more influential than its subscriber base (more than 9,000 paying, and 26,000 'squatters' receiving a free, limited version[1]) suggests. It often reports unpopular opinions and breaks stories not found in more mainstream media outlets. It is this type of reporting that led to Crikey being banned from the 2005 Budget "lock up", in which financial journalists are shown the Federal Budget papers some hours in advance so that their publications can report the Budget in depth as soon as it is released. Staff of Treasurer Peter Costello gave the excuse that Crikey is not considered to be part of the "mainstream media".
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[edit] Criticism of Crikey
Critics of Crikey have argued that it often publishes material with little or no substantial evidence to back it up. Stephen Mayne, the then proprietor, was forced to sell his house in order to settle defamation cases brought by radio presenter Steve Price and former ALP senator Nick Bolkus over comments posted about them by Crikey. The publication has since formally adopted stronger correction and right-of-reply policies, including an undertaking to put the rectifications of major errors in a position of equal prominence to the original reports, a policy almost never practiced by traditional newspapers.
[edit] Sale to Private Media Partners
On February 1, 2005, it was announced that Stephen Mayne had sold Crikey to Private Media Partners, another independent media operator in Australia, owned by former Editor-In-Chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Eric Beecher, for $A1 million. Under the agreement, Mayne continues to write for Crikey as a business commentator, along with longstanding Crikey political commentator Christian Kerr (who previously wrote under the pseudonym Hillary Bray).
Under PMP's stewardship the publication took on more a "professional" style, dispensing with the promise of anonymity and the use of pseudonyms for certain contributors (features which had been a hallmark of Mayne's editorship).
The sale elevated Crikey's reputation to the realm of serious independent media player, however, the mainstay of its coverage remains its political and business commentary. Indeed Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in the The Latham Diaries, MUP 2005.
[edit] References
- ^ Item 19: Crikey subscriber email 28/03/06
