Joe Skrzynski, AO, the acting Chair of The Conversation Media Group announced on Friday that Andrew Jaspan, Editor and Executive Director, is leaving The Conversation to take up a new post as Director of the Global Academy and Professorial Fellowship at RMIT.
“On behalf of the Directors and Members of TCMG, I not only thank Andrew for his role in founding and leading The Conversation, but pay tribute to his leadership for the seven years since inception of what is the most successful global start-up in digital publishing, launching here in Australia and then spreading rapidly internationally.
From the Australian Edition of The Conversation launched in 2011, Andrew secured funding and led the launches of the UK, US, Africa, French and Global editions. A pilot is underway in Indonesia, a Canadian edition will launch shortly and a feasibility is underway for a Spanish version.
The Conversation global group has published to date 59,700 articles, contributed by 26,000, scholars and researchers and scientists from 1,990 universities and research organisations around the world.
The Conversation reaches a rapidly growing international audience, currently having 4 million unique readers monthly on its own websites and a further 35 million monthly through republishing. 22,000 other publications globally have republished from The Conversation.
The Conversation has been successfully established as a bold new media outlet that informs public debate with knowledge-based journalism that is responsible, ethical and evidence based, by unlocking the knowledge of researchers and academics to provide the public with clarity and insight into society’s greatest problems, at a time when traditional media business models are under challenge and trust in media is under attack.
Andrew leaves The Conversation in a strong position to further develop and mature its services in Australia and globally. His services will be retained for strategic counselling to the Board.
On behalf of the Board of TCMG, we wish Andrew every success and professional fulfilment in developing his passion for new forms of global journalism through the Global Academy.”
Andrew Jaspan said, “I am proud of what has been achieved by The Conversation to date and I wish it every success for the future. I look forward to working with the universities to develop new approaches to the provision of global information informed by an understanding of the cross-border and cross-cultural perspectives of the Global South and North.
"This new frontier of public service information requires a lot more thought and development. That will be the focus of the Global Academy.”
Martin Bean CBE, Vice Chancellor, RMIT said, “The Conversation is a major international success. RMIT is delighted to continue working with fellow universities, and with Andrew Jaspan, to further vital work in global media education through the Global Academy project.”
Glyn Davis, Vice Chancellor, University of Melbourne said, “As a founding supporter of The Conversation with Andrew Jaspan, the University of Melbourne is proud of Andrew’s achievements in establishing this new global media player. We look forward to a continued strong partnership with Andrew in his new role.”
An executive search will now commence for the group CEO position.