The Media Satchel - September 26

The 2012 desk diaries are starting to hit the newsagents, including Country Style magazine's 144-page hardcover and calendar.

A new television series, New Idea Test Kitchen, will air on 7TWO and Seven from November. Bringing the magazine's cookery and craft sections to life, the show – which will be on air for six weeks – will focus on Christmas and summer entertaining.

Pacific Magazines' The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie has been closed despite healthy sales of 50,000+ owing to a conflict of interest between Jamie Durie and the Seven Network. The Spring issue will be the last. Commiserations to the team.

Grand Designs Australia Magazine will debut in April 2012. The quarterly Universal Magazines publication, spawned by the popular TV series of the same name, will cost $9.95 and target 35 to 50-year-old readers. Grand Designs Australia Live will be hosted at the Sydney Exhibition Centre from October 21 to 23.

Hearst Magazines is launching another television based publication, HGTV Magazine, on October 4, reports Folio.

A clever interactive idea: STYLIST has invited readers to contribute cover designs to its 100th issue in print (the entire issue's contents will be reader-sourced). The 'Behind our favourite covers' feature, including Q&As with the likes of Quentin Blake (who is well-know as the illustrator behind Roald Dahl's back catalogue) is fun. Launched in the UK in 2009 by ShortList Media, the free publication is targeted at affluent career women and has been guest-edited by Nigella Lawson.

The Sunday Times Magazine has undergone a redesign. Meanwhile, earlier this month in recognition of 45 years of The Observer magazine, Peter Preston wrote, "Newspaper magazines still matter; they deliver women readers" for The Guardian.
Meanwhile, the new-look Weekend Australian Magazine is producing some of the best photojournalism and features in the country.

Madonna King, ABC

ABC morning radio host and Courier Mail columnist Madonna King is leaving the show next month to spend more time with her family. "Every day until I leave I'm going to do the same thing I've done every day since February 2006," she told listeners. "Get up at 3.40am, come to work and with my small wonderful team try to cover those things that are important to you." (ABC; Courier Mail)

Emily Jade O'Keefe, former morning radio host at Triple M Brisbane and Courier Mail blogger, has also said good-bye after The Cage breakfast show was axed. O'Keefe has a baby girl on the way.

Fairfax Media has launched a new online editorial section designed specifically for IT professionals, called IT Pro.

Trent Dalton, 32, was named Queensland Journalist of the Year at the Clarion Awards (hosted by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance). Speaking to Mediaweek, Dalton – who got his start on Brisbane News after doing a feature writing course at QUT – attributed Christine Middap, former editor of Qweekend and current editor of The Weekend Australian Magazine with giving him is big break. "I don't think I'd have gotten the chance to do the sort of long-form journalism, where I've found a core...and I feel really comfortable. I certainly don't take it for granted," he said, adding that Middap, "has a brilliant ability to bring the best out in everyone".

Dalton's award-winning feature, Home Is Where the Hurt Is, examined domestic violence as told through the eyes of the female victims and male perpetrators. "Trent typifies a modern journalist," Courier Mail editor Michael Crutcher said. "He can deliver hard news leads for page one, he can write compelling Qweekend pieces and few writers have his command for humour. Importantly, his work shines in the newspaper, online and on the iPad." Dalton's talents extend to the screen, too: last year his script for the short film Glenn Owen Dodds was nominated for an AFI Award in the Best Screenplay category. You can follow Dalton on Twitter.

Lachlan Heywood has been made editor of News Limited's Townsville Bulletin. Heywood, who is deputy editor of The Sunday Mail in Brisbane, replaces Peter Gleeson, who has been appointed editor of the Gold Coast Bulletin.

News Limited is to rebrand as News Australia next year, if all goes according to plan. (The Australian) 

The ability to measure newspaper and magazine readership across multiple platforms, including print, online and mobile, will be a key feature of the new Ipsos Australia readership survey. (The Australian)

US Harper's Bazaar has reduced its frequency, increased its trim size and upped its paper quality to create a more luxurious experience for readers, reports The Daily. Scarcity and quality – together with a dogged social media strategy – could work in its favour.

"I think this country and I think the world, that's the way we're leaning towards more positive reinforcement in our lives, we don't need shock jocks anymore to take the mickey out of people" - Robert Mills, host of the new Young Talent Time. (Herald Sun)

Crikey's 'Quality Journalism Project' makes for excellent reading.

The ACMA has set itself a goal: to be, and be recognised as, the world's best converged communications regulator by the end of 2011.

You can keep track of Convergence Review news via the Twitter feed.

The managerial team for this year's QUT student publication Frock Paper Scissors publication is looking for sponsorship dollars to enable the magazine to go to print. 

While a dedicated digital team is hard at work, students like something tangible, on paper, for their portfolios. If your brand or company is in the business of selling to young people – more particularly creative Brisbanites aged 16 to 35 – then please email frock.advertising@gmail.com for a media kit. You can keep track of what the team's up to via Facebook.

 "The nature of bad news infects the teller." - William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra

And, yes, "The Media Satchel" is back after a looooong but well needed break. Quite unfortunate that the media wheel keeps turning when we have opted to jump off for a while!

Girl With a Satchel