This week, an article in The Australian reported on copywriters seeing their businesses impacted by ChatGPT. We had some discussion on this site about it, and future job prospects have been a topic of conversation with many freelance journalists and writers I've shared dialogue with in recent times. Most people who hang up their shingles as professional writers do so because they love writing. I don't know many who enjoy the business side of the job. Few enjoy having to pitch stories and ever fewer enjoy chasing payment from miserly clients. But those who want to stay in the writing game really need to start thinking about the business of what they do because AI will threaten your career.  No question. Even if you've given AI a whirl and been underwhelmed, recognise that right now it's akin to the work experience kid who spends a week with you because they want to be a writer when they grow up. (At this point, you might want to do the kid a service and say run, child, run, and

A new newsletter aiming to take readers inside the working lives of start-up staff has been kicked off by Balance The Grind founder Hao Nguyen (pictured above) for The Nudge Group.   Startup Life: Unscripted will spotlight the individuals “working behind the scenes” of the startup ecosystem including the operators, product designers, and marketing managers. “We believe that by focusing on these individuals and their stories, we can give a more accurate, more human picture of what working in a startup is really like,” Nguyen told Influencing. “We aim to bring authenticity and an insider's perspective to the table.” Nguyen originally founded a Balance the Grind, a digital media masthead which interviewed professionals about how they managed to balance work and personal lives. One of his interviewees was Steve Grace, The Founder and CEO of The Nudge Group. Impressed by the experience, Grace ended up acquiring the site and appointed Nguyen as Head of Content for the com

SBS Australia has unveiled its revamped homepage serving its multilingual audiences delivering breaking news, information, and compelling stories in more than 60 languages. SBS.com.au launched this week expands the reach and discoverability of SBS’ distinctive content.  SBS’s Chief Technology Officer, Darren Farnham said the redesign is the “culmination of a huge amount of work” with technology upgrades and backend innovations  “These enable a better user experience with features like personalised content recommendations based on users’ preferred language that the site can detect automatically,” he said. “Publishing in dozens of different scripts presents unique challenges from a content management system perspective, and this project has been years in the making. “More improvements are coming soon, including improved search functionality that will make it simpler and quicker to find what you’re looking for across our network.” SBS’s Director of Strateg

Laura Barry has commenced as a Digital Editor at Signature Media. Barry will be working across its digital titles Holidays with Kids, Vacations & Travel and Signature Luxury Travel & Style. Prior to that, she wrote and edited articles for the ArchiPro website.  She has previously worked at Are Media as a copy editor, writing core house stories, decorating features, buyer’s guides, advice stories, profiles, trend reports and news pages and became the senior features writer. As a senior digital content editor for Better Homes and Gardens, Barry wrote and edited news related to travel, finance, health, beauty and lifestyle stories.   Get in touch with Barry at laura@signaturemedia.com.au

Alex Zaharov-Reutt has ended a near two-decade association with iTWire and will focus his future journalism endeavours around his own independent channels. "After nearly two decades at iTWire, and its predecessor, The Beer Files, I felt it was time to move on and become independent," Zaharov-Reutt told Influencing. "iTWire is still a great Australian tech news destination for business and consumer tech news, has a loyal readership, and I'm proud of the work I did there, serving Australian and global readers with tech content." Zaharov-Reutt has a YouTube presence at youtube.com/alexontech, but has also set up an online site at https://techadvice.life, which he intends to iterate over the course of this year. "My site is still very much a work in progress... so it isn't as polished, nor filled with content as it should be," Zaharov-Reutt said. "I'm working on a family project which is taking up some of my time, so progress will likely continue being slower than I'd like but I'm wor

The ABC has announced the appointment of veteran journalist Adele Ferguson to the investigations team and as a senior business commentator.  Joining the ABC investigations team led by Sean Nicholls, Ferguson will offer her expertise on business issues in a regular column for ABC News online and regular appearances on 7.30. ABC Director, News Justin Stevens welcomed Ferguson to the team calling her “an incredible journalist”. “Adele’s brilliant and brave public interest journalism has had an enormous impact on our nation and on people’s lives. “Adele will have a key role across the ABC’s digital and broadcast services as one of our most senior journalists and commentators,” Stevens said.  Ferguson said she is thrilled to join “Australia’s largest investigations team.” “There has never been a more important time for investigative journalism to give a voice to vulnerable people and hold the powerful to account,” she said. Ferguson has worked as a seni

Shauna Anderson has been appointed as the Managing Editor of Nine.com.au.  Anderson will work across Nine Digital and will continue to oversee Lifestyle content.  Anderson wrote on LinkedIn that she is excited to take up the role after working as an Editor of 9Honey for five years.  “Thrilled to be working across the wider team and even more closely with Kerri Elstub and Marc Dodd. Looking forward to the opportunity for increased growth at Nine,” she said.  She takes up the role with over 20 years of experience in print and online journalism, having worked as a news editor at Mamamia, Nine’s Chief of staff, reporter and producer of Today Show, and news editor at Newscorp before becoming the Editor of 9Honey in 2018.  Anderson will begin in July and 9Honey is in search of a new Editor. Get in touch with Anderson via shaunaanderson@nine.com.au