It’s tough to lose my job during a pandemic, but I’m truly gutted that BuzzFeed won’t be covering Aussie news for an Aussie audience after next week.

I started at @buzzfeedoznews with an accountability obsession. I really believe in the media’s role as the fourth estate. It’s essential to democracy.

Over the past two years, @marnicordell, @lanesainty, @ginarush and others have taught me that it doesn’t always mean focusing on the powerful. Listening to the powerless is what we do at BF Oz.

Telling refugees’ stories over the last year has been hard for many reasons, but I’m pleased the audience has been on board w/ with the unique way we’ve done it. There are still so many stories, and hope I’ll be able to tell them elsewhere (DM me with jobs/opportunities pls!!!)

I’ve been so proud to work at the underdog where we had to fight for scoops and stories. I’ve almost learned to love spelling out “BuzzFeed” for people who don’t know what I’m talking about. It meant we had to be more thoughtful, more aggressive, and better listeners.

We wouldn’t have been able to hit as hard as we did without being a tight-knit team. I’m simply a sook for teamwork, and collabs with Lane, Gina and Cam have been my fave memories. And every story is a collab with copy king @holmesjourno. You’ve helped this lawyer lighten up.

I hope the model — journalism on subjects that others neglect but that matter to young people, and the collective way our team worked — can flourish elsewhere in the Australian media, post-BuzzFeed. I hope that the media is more than just a collection of personal brands.

Everyone else is already saying nice things about my colleagues, and I don’t want to overdo it in this thread. But shout-out to attention-averse @lanesainty — an incredible editor, manager, and a great, great journalist. Her judgment and determination got us through the past year

Anyway, it should be a crime to let people go when the pub is banned. I hate the roni!