The New York Times is expanding in Australia with Damian Cave (as Bureau Chief ) alongside Jacqueline Williams (Investigations Reporter) Michelle Innis (Journalist) leading the charge with the help of a small group of freelancers.
Plans of opening the Australian office was first announced in August last year, when NYT decided to expand its already existing Australian database, in response to declining advertising circulation figures. But this vision came to reality when in December last year a job advertisement was posted for the Australian Bureau of Chief Position.
Mr. Cave spoke with Fairfax Media and outlined the pure experimental nature of this initiative saying . “What we are doing here is actually pretty unique … We may or may not partner with some people along the way. This for us is a pretty ambitious start-up model that is different than anything we have done before.
Similar to the Guardian Media, the New York Times has already established an Australia front page providing infrequent latest news on the Australian landscape. Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and the likes have already established their presence in Australia and have found working with local media partners and contributors an avenue for rapidly establishing their userbase. Besides securing Waleed Aly as an ongoing contributor writer, time will only tell on NYT’s long term approach.
The New York Times has posted a list of vacant jobs and position descriptions on its website, including: a graphics/multimedia editor based in Sydney; a reporter based in Sydney or elsewhere in Australia; an audience growth editor based in Sydney; an editorial assistant based in Sydney, and project collaborators based throughout Australia. They are also expected to start from March within a co-sharing space in Surry Hills, until Damian establishes himself in Australia and they can find a more permanent office.