New Australian Women’s Weekly editor Kim Doherty to inject new ideas

Incoming Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief Kim ­Doherty will change tack from her predecessor Helen McCabe.

Incoming Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief Kim Doherty. Picture: Jane Dempster

Incoming Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief Kim ­Doherty (nee Wilson) plans to change tack from the editorial stance of her high-profile predecessor Helen McCabe, with more of a focus on core female values, crime stories and royal family coverage.

On May 16, Wilson, who last month married long-term partner and Guardian Australia journalist Ben Doherty, will take the helm of Australia’s most celebrated women’s title, which has championed and influenced female ­values and issues since it was founded by Sir Frank Packer in 1933.

But McCabe, a former deputy editor of The Sunday Telegraph, redefined the hitherto populist AWW to focus on harder news and political stories — former PM Julia Gillard knitting a kangaroo and an interview with burn victim Turia Pitt were among the better known covers of a six-year stint that ended in January.

Now AWW’s ebbing number of readers are wondering what comes next. “What Helen did was fantastic and it worked for the time but Helen’s Helen and I’ll find my own way,” Doherty tells The Australian in her first interview since this publication revealed her appointment in February. “AWW is close to ­Australian women’s hearts and it always reflected their core values and we’ll be looking to give them more of what they want — ­perhaps in a fresher sort of way.

“There will be a mix as there’s always been. There’s demand for royals coverage and certainly the great political stories that Helen’s done. But I think it’s also important that we cover the whole country — there’s some fantastic crime stories out there, while lifestyle content is very valuable, and I think there is a lot of opportunity to grow it on a digital front.”

While the former New Idea and Kidspot.com.au editor was proud and excited to be appointed to the most prestigious job in women’s magazines, she has a mammoth task ahead to maintain the publication’s relevance in a digital era.

She will start the role at a time when AWW and its publisher, the German-based Bauer Media Group, are in a state of flux. An onslaught of digital interlopers and social media alternatives has ripped audiences and advertising revenue from the country’s major magazines. Bauer has fared worse than most.

The publisher’s advertising sales for consumer magazines plunged by 22 per cent in calendar year 2015 to $57 million, while Pacific Magazines, owned by Seven West Media, was off by 14.8 per cent to $50.3m over the same ­period. NewsLifeMedia, owned by The Australian’s publisher News Corporation, was up by 2.4 per cent to $18.1m.

Perhaps the most worrying ­figure for the German publisher is the near halving of the $106.6m in ad revenue it wrote in 2012, which was the year it bought ACP from Nine Entertainment Co for $525m. Over the same period ­Pacific shed 31 per cent of its ad revenue.

During the halcyon days of the 1980s, AWW commanded monthly sales of 1.2 million. This has dropped to 416,000 today, which compares to 490,000 when McCabe took the reins — a strong result in relative terms for the former magazine queen.

Bauer’s challenges have led to severe instability, exemplified by the shock departure of former local chief executive David Goodchild in December, and McCabe’s own unexpected resignation.

This came after Bauer’s former advertising sales boss Tony Kendall resigned in September to become CEO of APN News & Media’s radio business.

For Doherty, it all adds to the difficulty of the task ahead.

One person she plans to sound out for advice before starting is former AWW editor and magazine doyenne Ita Buttrose. “She has offered me a lot of guidance over the years, which I am very grateful for,” Doherty says

She will have another familiar face in her corner at Bauer.

Last month, Bauer appointed former Seven West Media chief operating officer Nick Chan as its new local CEO.

He ran Pacific Magazines while Doherty was editor-in-chief of its flagship women’s magazine New Idea, ­before Chan was elevated to the group role in 2013.

“Nick’s got a lot of experience in the market,” Doherty says. “He understands content, he’s fabulous on the advertising side, ­understands people and is a great leader — there’s a million reasons why he was the right choice.”

Chan’s appointment was seen as the right one for Bauer but there have been questions raised about his digital expertise.

Asked if Chan understands digital media, Doherty says: “Nick understands content and consumer brands. He’s a very smart guy. So while we are all still learning about digital and I think it’s a challenge for everybody, I do think Nick knows that’s an area where there are opportunities for magazine brands and I imagine it will be an area of focus but we’ll have to wait and see,” she says.

For her part, Doherty says ­expanding the presence of AWW beyond print will be paramount to its future.

“There is a lot of opportunity to take that genuine appeal and loyalty that exists with a printed product and expand it online and reach out to newer readers that might not be reading in print, but might be prepared to read online.”

Doherty left New Idea after five years in 2014 to have her daughter, Molly, which preceded her stint at NewsLifeMedia’s ­Kidspot.