The Australian’s youth title the Oz folds less than a year after launch

Helmed by a team of young female journalists, the site went live in April last year in a bid to reach a different audience

The Australian’s youth media title, the Oz, has been quietly dismantled less than a year after it launched as a passion project of the former editor-in-chief Christopher Dore who left the Murdoch empire after an alleged drunken incident in California.

The Oz was born in April last year with seven young female staffers at the helm and a subscription price of $8.99 a month. It promised youthful content that was distinct from the conservative masthead the Australian and boasted it was “powered almost entirely by Gen Z journalists”.

But less than a week after a new editor-in-chief was announced for the Australian, Guardian Australia understands the Oz won’t be publishing any more stories on the Australian’s website.

Under Dore the Oz had a prominent berth on the homepage of the Australian but that section has disappeared and no new content has been uploaded since December.

But new posts have been uploaded to Instagram – including posts on Wednesday about the Golden Globes – as part of the brand’s apparent transition to a social media presence only.

A spokesperson for the Australian said the Instagram and TikTok accounts will remain active.

“The Oz brand will continue its strong presence on social media and its important role attracting new audiences to The Australian’s digital platforms,” they told Guardian Australia.

“We will retain The Oz’s innovative approach to digital journalism, social media and design.”

The seven staff will no longer file stories under the Oz brand but will be absorbed into the newspaper, sources said.

Dore, who left last year after Murdoch executives became aware of his inappropriate behaviour at the WSJ Tech Live conference, defended the “brilliant content” after legacy staff grumbled about the amount of resources devoted to it and critics sniped at the content.

“For a new brand, The Oz has already built a strong, loyal and growing audience across all platforms,” Dore said on 15 July. “The growth in audience is exceptional, well above expectations.

“Likewise the subscription numbers for The Oz are already fantastic and growing faster than I imagined. The Oz has more subscribers than any other news site (all of them combined in fact) purporting to serve a similar audience.”

Mentored by Dore himself, the young team pumped out news, celebrity and lifestyle content for Instagram and TikTok for eight months but the posts largely failed to gain traction. Traffic and subscriptions were slow, sources said.

The Oz made a spectacular error in July, publishing a highly salacious and unsubstantiated gossip item complete with photographs and graphics about the British royal family. The item was so defamatory the Guardian cannot repeat it.

Minutes after the Guardian asked Dore to comment on why the unusual article purportedly about a royal’s sex life had been published, it was taken down.

The article discussed in graphic detail the alleged sex life of a royal, based on a single “blind” item of gossip from a notorious Instagram account that did not name the subject.

The Oz published a jokey TikTok video of the Queen “reacting” to the sexual gossip and the story was live for about three hours.

Dore’s former deputy Michelle Gunn was promoted to editor-in-chief last week at the same time as News Corp created a powerful new role for Sky News Australia chief executive Paul Whittaker. Whittaker, who sources said is no fan of the Oz, now oversees editorial at the masthead.

Contributor

Amanda Meade

The GuardianTramp

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