Mumbrella Media appoints news veteran Hal Crawford as editorial director
One of Australia’s most respected editorial executives is to lead Mumbrella’s content operation, we can today reveal.
Hal Crawford will be responsible for the group’s editorial output across Mumbrella and Unmade, along with curation of event content.
Crawford made his name in the Australian media at ninemsn (now badged as nine.com.au), where over the space of a decade he rose from news editor, to leading the operation as editor-in-chief and publisher. He then went on to spend nearly four years in New Zealand as chief news officer for MediaWorks NZ, where he led a team of 250 staff across TV, radio and online.
Crawford is the first major appointment since Mumbrella came under new management a fortnight ago. Diversified Communications sold Mumbrella to Mumbrella Media, which is owned by The Intermedia Group and Mumbrella co-founder Tim Burrowes. Unmade has also become part of Mumbrella Media.
Crawford will report in to Burrowes, who is Mumbrella Media’s publisher.
Burrowes said: “I’ve been a fan of Hal’s work for as long as I’ve known him. As anybody who has followed his writing and podcasting will know, he’s a thoughtful, funny journalist who understands where Australia’s media landscape is heading.
“We have big ambitions for Mumbrella Media as the key agenda-setting voice in the market. I believe Hal’s appointment will make it clear just how serious we are in that ambition.”
Crawford, who starts at Mumbrella on Monday, said: “This is dream-come-true territory for me – to be back on the tools in an industry that matters a great deal to me personally and the world in general. Media and marketing is undergoing massive upheaval and there is just so much happening. I am itching to begin work with Tim and the great journalists at Mumbrella and Unmade.”
- Crawford’s email address will be hcrawford@mumbrella.com.au. For previous NZ contemporaries, Crawford will be part of the team in Auckland next Tuesday February 18 for Unmade’s Compass event. Ticket details are available here.
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Have seen Hal rise from a plucky cadet to the dizzying heights of editorial management. Tim couldn’t have asked for a better hire in his most febrile imaginings.
Congrats Hal, excellent stuff. Congrats Tim too.
This is great news for Mumbrella and the industry as a whole – confidence in a robust industry rising and growing through change – well done all I look forward to reading daily