The Guardian is one of the most popular newspapers in the United Kingdom. Deputy editor Katharine Viner announced today that the company was opening up an Australian digital edition later this year. It is thought that this move will eventually be a platform to launch further publications into Asia.
“We already have a large number of Australian readers who tell us they want more of our on-the-ground reporting, lively commentary, and groundbreaking open journalism,” Viner said in a statement.
“We will build a small Australian team to cover the issues that really matter to the nation and connect our Australian readers to the Guardian’s global network of correspondents and commentators.”
The Guardian will be setting up the main news website from the UK, but will be hiring local correspondents and editors. The goal is to develop a homegrown approach to news, making it very relevant to Australians.
The move to digital is fairly savvy for the Guardian, because the company doesn’t have to develop lots of infrastructure. Last November, the entire Guardian website had over 70 million hits, so digital is big business.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
