The Global Mail Editor Quits

The Global Mail is barely four months old but its editor Monica Attard has already tendered her resignation, following a power struggle within the company. 

Attard was foreign correspondent from ABC and presenter in MediaWatch before she joined the online magazine last February. The Global Mail aims to be an independent publication. 

Website founder and financial backer Graeme Wood announced on Attard’s resignation. The philanthropist, however, did not elaborate on the reason why Attard is leaving the company. Wood also thanked Attard for her support in the start-up phase. 

The Global Mail was formally launched last Feb. 6. It boasted of being a not-for-profit site. Access is free and the site is uncharacteristically free from advertising. 

Instead of covering daily news, the site focuses on in-depth analysis and investigative journalism. Its motto is “Our audience is our only agenda.” 

Graeme Wood has committed at least $15 million for The Global Mail in the next five years. The start-up currently has 15 journalists, which include big names in the journalism field like Ellen Fanning and Bernard Lagan. 

Since its February launch, traffic to the news website fell by 50 percent. Nielsen figures showed that more than 47,000 people visited the site in March 2012. 

The Global Mail was patterned by ProPublica, a New York-based non-profit newsroom. It was the first online news site to win the Noble Peace Prize, earning the top plum in 2010 for one of its published articles. 

ProPublica has also partnered with more than 50 media organizations around the world. Like The Global Mail, ProPublica is also funded by two philanthropists.