Month: December 2021

“What’s interesting to me is that in a time of bite-sized news and supposedly short attention spans, it’s these stories of 4000, 5000 words that perform the best - with those who’ve grown up with us but also with 20 and 30 somethings, who might come for The Quiz but then stay for the features,” said Strickland. “That tells me that we’re all actually craving substance, a definitive story on a subject that allows us to grapple with it in all its shades of grey and nuance.”

That’s particularly so, she said, in an age of spin. “We’re all very marketing savvy these days, and we increasingly want the unvarnished truth. The rise of the real on Instagram - stars like Celeste Barber and The Inspired Unemployed - reflects that, too. News magazines have always played in that space, and I think, ironically, the times are coming back to suit that aspect of what we do. People are fed up with nicey-nicey content that actually doesn’t say much.”

Strickland says her team’s aim is to publish the cover story everyone is talking about on a Saturday - at the kids footy game that morning or at a dinner party that night. “We’re looking for the issues and people Australians are fascinated by, and to catch them just before everyone else registers that they’re interested in them.”