The Saturday Paper Explained

The Saturday Paper
Type:Weekly newspaper
Format:Compact
Owners:Schwartz Publishing
Editor:Emily Barrett
Language:English
Headquarters:Collingwood, Melbourne
Circulation:285,000
Issn:2203-3092
Oclc:1043663027
Image Border:no
Publishing Country:Australia

The Saturday Paper is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format.[1] [2] The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since its launch The Saturday Paper has maintained a focus on long-form journalism and in-depth coverage of current affairs, arts and Australian politics.[3]

Publication

The Saturday Paper is published by Morry Schwartz via Schwartz Media, which also publishes books via Black Inc, the magazine The Monthly[2] and the Quarterly Essay.[4] Upon its launch, Schwartz stated he expected The Saturday Paper to be profitable within several years, and the paper should sell "between 60,000 and 80,000 copies a week".[4] Another early projection put that figure at 80,000 to 100,000 copies a week.[5] Ultimately, circulation grew to 900,000 by December 2021.

Editors

Author Erik Jensen was the paper's editor from its founding until June 2018, when Vice Media features editor Maddison Connaughton was appointed to the position. Jensen became the paper's editor-in-chief.[6] He was the paper's representative on the judging panel for the annual Horne Prize since its inception in 2016.[7] Jensen replaced Connaughton as editor in June 2021 before moving to become editor-in-chief of the newspaper's publisher, Schwartz Media.[8] Since April 2022 The Saturday Paper has been edited by former Bloomberg News editor Emily Barrett.[9]

Contributors

Regular contributors include journalists Paul Bongiorno, Karen Middleton, Mike Seccombe, Rick Morton, John Hewson and cartoonist Jon Kudelka.

Other contributors include writers Karen Barlow, Behrouz Boochani, Fiona McGregor, David Marr, Christos Tsiolkas, Margaret Simons, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Richard Flanagan, Kate Holden, Maddee Clark, Martin McKenzie-Murray, Clem Bastow, Shaad D'Souza, Sarah Krasnostein; economist Richard Denniss; former television presenter Leigh Sales; journalists Nakkiah Lui and Michael West; musician and The Whitlams frontman Tim Freedman; and ex-Federal MPs Tony Windsor, Kevin Rudd, and Rob Oakeshott. In 2020, poet, playwright and novelist Alison Croggon became the paper's arts editor. In March 2024, Stan Grant started producing fortnightly commentary pieces.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: The Saturday Paper: who on earth would launch a newspaper today?. 28 February 2014. The Guardian. 13 September 2014.
  2. News: New weekly newspaper, The Saturday Paper, hits stands in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. 1 March 2014. ABC News (Australia). Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 March 2014.
  3. News: Cover comes off The Saturday Paper. Lara Sinclair. 28 February 2014. The Australian. News Corp Australia. 1 March 2014.
  4. News: 'Right time' for The Saturday Paper, says publisher Morry Schwartz. Madeleine Heffernan. 28 February 2014. The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 1 March 2014.
  5. Web site: Christensen . Nic . 2013-11-15 . Schwartz to launch a new weekend newspaper The Saturday Paper . 2022-12-30 . Mumbrella . en-US.
  6. News: Vice's Maddison Connaughton named new editor of The Saturday Paper. Zoe Samios. 15 June 2018. Mumbrella. News Corp Australia. 5 October 2018.
  7. Web site: The Horne Prize - News. The Horne Prize. en-us. 2018-12-04.
  8. News: Connaughton out. The Guardian. Amanda Meade. 18 June 2021 . en-us. 2021-06-18.
  9. News: New editorial appointments for Schwartz Media continue The Saturday Paper's dedication to narrative journalism.. Schwartz Publishers. Amanda Meade. 24 June 2024 . en-us. 2024-06-24.