We Magazines is to cease publication of its young female title Birdee, just months after popular sister title, The Hoopla, shut its doors.
Founding editor of the site, Hayley Gleeson, posted on the website this morning saying: “It brings me great sadness to tell you that Birdee will be ceasing publication for now.”
“In the months since We Magazines announced the closure of The Hoopla, we’ve been searching for a solution to keep Birdee in the air – to continue bringing you high quality content and paying our talented writers (our non-negotiables).”
“But we’ve exhausted all our avenues to date and until a more sustainable publishing model can be found (we’re all ears if you’ve got any ideas), we’re putting our pens down. We’ll be publishing a few more stories this week before wrapping things up on Friday.”
Editor-in-chief of The Hoopla, Wendy Harmer, at the time cited similar reasons for the closure of the site with a post at the time saying: “The online media game in Australia is evolving at dizzying speed and increasingly becoming one for players with very deep pockets – often supported by overseas media networks who are able to absorb enormous financial losses for their forays into the local market. Often the content offered is from writers and interns who work for free; reprinted from other sites or blogs and, increasingly, material under licence from the taxpayer-funded ABC,” Harmer said.
In her parting message Gleeson thanked Birdee's audience for its support and said it has been a privilege and a pleasure to publish the works – online and in print.
“Your energy and ideas will continue to influence and impress, for sure," she said.
“It is in Birdee’s DNA to zig where others zag and we’re thrilled to have found an audience who also believe that there’s more to life than bikini bodies and celebrity gossip. Thank you for your support and belief in what we’ve built, and for helping to shape Birdee into the loved and respected community it has become.”
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