Guardian Australia had a 12-year dream run. Has it lost its edge?

In 2012, Australian media, dominated for decades by two household-name publishers, was in trouble. One of them, Fairfax, was in financially terminal shape. The other, News Corp, was concerned more with influencing politics than chasing facts, says former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.

This concern about Australian publishing’s state of play prompted a meeting between then-Liberal shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and Rusbridger with the idea of bringing The Guardian, the storied, British, left-leaning newspaper, to local shores.

The Guardian Australia’s editor, Lenore Taylor, is one of the last of the original crew.Credit: The Guardian

“Most of the Australian press was in the hands of one man, who has a 70-year track record of trying to pick winners and influence elections. So the original need for fact-based journalism that is trustworthy and isn’t trying to achieve a political result is pretty crucial,” says Rusbridger, who led The Guardian for 20 years and was at the helm when it expanded into Australia.

Turnbull says it is unlikely Guardian Australia would have happened without his input. He presented Rusbridger with a full financial plan for its launch, which included someone to underwrite the whole operation – philanthropist Graeme Wood, founder of Wotif.com.

When the former prime minister’s role was revealed years later in his 2020 memoir, A Bigger Picture, those at Holt St, News Corp’s Australian home, “lost their minds”, he says. One headline in The Australian read: “Malcolm, Guardian of the Green Left Galaxy”.

The strong reaction suggested Guardian Australia had succeeded in disrupting the media duopoly and getting noses out of joint by moving fast on how to best deliver news digitally.

Nowadays, the publication is staffed by a much larger newsroom, and many of the journalistic stars associated with the brand’s launch have moved on. Lenore Taylor, now editor, is one of the last of the original crew.

A recent flurry of exits, including the departure of high-profile political editor Karen Middleton, put the news organisation back in the headlines. Now, mid-election campaign, Guardian Australia is mid-rebuild of its all-important Canberra team.

“Obviously, we’d prefer not to be going into an election campaign with vacancies in Canberra, but I think the Canberra team is really stepping up. I think they’re doing a really good job,” Taylor says.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Middleton replaced Katharine Murphy, who left her position as political editor last year to join the Prime Minister’s Office. Asked about the next steps for Guardian Australia, Taylor reaffirms a company policy not to discuss operational matters or anything related to the recent events in Canberra.

Yet, in the 12 months since Murphy left, arguably, things in Canberra could not have gone worse. They included an independent HR investigation into claims and counterclaims within the team and a swift exodus of talent. (Four of its most senior reporters and its veteran photographer have left.)

Six months after Middleton started as political editor, she filed an informal complaint against the company’s long-standing chief political correspondent, Paul Karp, who responded with a counter-complaint of bullying.

Taylor was kept at arm’s length, considering she and Middleton were close friends of 35 years, having been cadets together at The Canberra Times.

Former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, Alan Rusbridger.Credit: Paul Morigi

The investigation involved interviews with Karp, Middleton and other staff, and delivered its findings in December. All involved were bound by strict confidentiality agreements.

The investigation found Middleton’s bullying allegation against Karp could not be substantiated. Karp resigned soon after, and Middleton went on leave, where she remained until March when she and the organisation agreed on her exit. (In that tumultuous period, blogger and reporter Amy Remeikis joined the think tank, the Australia Institute, reporter Daniel Hurst moved to communications, and photographer Mike Bowers also departed.)

It was a major decision to part ways with one of the most experienced press gallery journalists and biographer of the prime minister on the eve of a federal election, with incoming chief political correspondent Tom McIlroy to join only days before polling day.

Middleton and Karp did not respond to a series of questions.

The situation punctuates a growing sentiment among journalists, many former and some current staff, that The Guardian has reached a point of maturity in Australia. It has succeeded where other international interlopers, such as BuzzFeed and HuffPost, have failed in breaking into Australia’s media establishment, but now, it is no longer the punchy upstart it was 12 years ago, for better or worse.

Part of the early success matched experienced editors from The Guardian’s UK office with big-name local hires, says Rusbridger. It was a delicate balance between being the outsider and the disruptor, he says, but names such as Murphy and Taylor, alongside up-and-coming talent, helped, too.

“That helped reassure readers it wasn’t some external transplant; it wasn’t outsiders parachuted in, it was people who had a local perspective.”

Some have argued the exit of major characters associated with the brand (Turnbull still refers to Murphy as “Murpharoo”, for example) over a sustained period has led to a loss of its once-renowned edge, a contention Taylor doesn’t buy into.

“I think we’re growing a whole new generation of fantastic names for Australians,” says Taylor. “I think it would be really arrogant for a senior journalist to say, ‘no one will ever be a name like I was, or like my successor was’. We’ve got a whole new generation of fantastic journalists who are names already or who are going to be names.”

Taylor’s confidence is backed up by several indicators of success. She is particularly pleased she proved former Fairfax boss Greg Hywood wrong when he told her on her departure there would only ever be two recognised news brands in Australia, alongside News Corp.

Guardian Australia, which is published digitally in Australia, is one of the country’s top-read outlets, with a monthly audience of between 7 million and 8 million Australians. Its audience grew 9 per cent over the past two years, according to the February figures from ratings agency Ipsos, but was outpaced by international publishers The New York Times (up 12 per cent) and the BBC (29 per cent) across the same period. Albeit, those had more room for growth.

By comparison, the ABC has the nation’s largest monthly online news audience of 12.4 million Australians as of February, with The Sydney Morning Herald (6.9m) and The Age (4.3m) following The Guardian. News Corp’s free website news.com.au is its only entry in the top 10.

In 2024, Guardian Australia made a modest $1.3 million in profit, yet this isn’t a top priority for the not-for-profit trustee ownership. It remains free to access, urging its readers to pay on a voluntary basis, and has significantly grown its newsrooms and areas of coverage, Taylor says.

“It is true, we’re bigger and much more influential now, and I think that’s a good thing,” Taylor says. “Being a start-up is exciting, but there’s not really anything romantic about trying to cover all the news in an ongoing way with a handful of reporters.”

Former Guardian Australia journalists Karen Middleton and Paul Karp.

One criticism levelled by current and former staff is a legendarily low appetite for legally tricky stories which, they say, means it has lost some of its bite over the years. It’s a contention Taylor, unsurprisingly, disagrees with.

“I think we are still breaking a lot of news. We still do hard-hitting analysis and opinion, and we’ve added a lot of investigative clout to that as well,” Taylor says.

“I think any publisher in Australia is aware of how our defamation laws work, so you need to be calculated and deliberate in the risks that you take, but we’re not shy of taking risks if the story is in the public interest and worth it.”

Despite the commentary and exits, there is no need to reinvent the wheel or the mindset at Guardian Australia, says Taylor.

“I think we are still distinctive in the same way that we were then, in that we are progressive. We look at the world through a progressive lens. That doesn’t mean that we’re partisan. We always follow the facts, but we look at things with the view that Australia and the world can change to be better and fairer.

“The sort of essence of The Guardian is here as it’s always been.”

One senior News Corp editor, who requested anonymity to comment freely, affirms the outlet as a “professional” news outfit.

“But the point to make is that all media organisations today define themselves and their business model according to a political slant.” This applies to both The Guardian and The Australian, they say, which has led to an increasingly polarised electorate.

“Media organisations don’t want to admit that. It’d be helpful if they did.”

Taylor’s own role as editor has been the subject of speculation for some time, given she is now Australia’s longest-serving editor after The Australian Financial Review’s Michael Stutchbury stood down in mid-2024.

Staff constantly speculate she is in line for a move to the UK head office or to take up an editorial role at the ABC, neither of which are happening, Taylor says.

“I’m happy doing what I’m doing now. I want to make sure that Guardian Australia is as thriving as it possibly can be, and I’ve got more work to do here.”

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