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BuzzFeed News Australia has always been what the company allegedly wanted from a news department: a powerful (yet tiny!) machine that competes with orgs 10x itâs size in a monopolised market. To shut it is shameful, to give the reasoning it has is even moreso.
If you want to talk about "news that made a difference", think of how a news department that was never more than 10 people competed with every other news outfit in the country, naturally becoming part of the culture and covering vital, under-reported beats
From indigenous affairs, to LGBT, to the nation's refugee crisis, to writing about politics in a way people under the age of 50 actually care about, to covering the internet (and what happens on it) seriously, BuzzFeedOz News did it different and did it astoundingly well.
And (it can be said now) it was all done while huge chunks of the industry â who would have all been better off realising the potential in the model rather than cowering in the face of it â pulled jokes, ignored, excluded, and embarrassingly looked over it.
It is devastating to see it close, and it will be even more devastating when australia's media industry returns to status quo â built on political sway and influence rather than audience, revenue, or breaking new ground.
The job losses are devastating. But i tell myself the group holding up BFOZ News will get work because they are incredibly talented (and nice!) people. The depressing reality of it is how many in the industry-at-large will just see this as a failure, rather than what could be.
