Ben Naparstek

Last updated

Ben Naparstek (born 1986) [1] [2] is an Australian digital media executive and former journalist.

Contents

Career

After graduating with degrees in Arts & Law (Hons) from the University of Melbourne, he was awarded an Owen Fellowship to study at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he co-edited The Jacqueline Rose Reader (Duke University Press). [1]

Naparstek was editor of the current affairs magazine The Monthly from May 2009 until February 2012. [2]

From February 2012 until August 2015, he edited Good Weekend, which is inserted weekly in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age . [3] [4] He then moved to Special Broadcasting Service, where for two years he was head of editorial, online and emerging platforms. In May 2017, Naparstek was recruited by PR firm Edelman Australia as their content and digital director. [5] He also sits on the board of Yourtown, an Australian not-for-profit organisation to help disadvantaged young people. [6]

In 2014 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study new funding models for public service journalism. [7]

In Conversation

A collection of his magazine profiles, written while freelancing for publications such as The Financial Times Magazine as an undergraduate student, was published by Scribe in 2009 as In Conversation and translated into Mandarin [8] and Portuguese. [9]

The Sydney Morning Herald described the book as “exceptional”, noting “he has a finely honed ability to write a profile” and is "a very fine colour feature writer”. [10] The Age wrote that “his profiles are as impressive as his subjects – erudite but never obscure or showy”. [11] The Spectator described Naparstek's profiles as “wide-ranging, the writing fluent and imaginative” [12] while the Australian Book Review noted “Naparstek's prose is crisp, relaxed and unflashily learned". [13]

Audio Executive Producer

As Head of Content for Audible Australia and New Zealand (2018-2021), Naparstek executive-produced 50+ narrative podcasts such as The Maker Upperers with Taika Waititi's Piki Films, When A Good Man Kills with David Farrier, How To Be Gay with Josh Thomas, Rogue Son with Nazeem Hussain, John Safran vs The Occult, and fiction podcasts including The Orchard starring Eric Bana (winning the Banff Rockie Award for best fiction podcast [14] ), The Outrageous True Story of Milky Moore with Jim Jefferies, Slushy created by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney and Winding Road starring Dacre Montgomery and Yael Stone.

It Burns: The Scandal-Plagued Race to Breed the World's Hottest Chili with Marc Fennell was nominated for the Rose d’Or and the AIB Awards. It won at the Oscars of food The James Beard Awards [15] and a silver medal at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards. [16] The follow-up Nut Jobs won awards for best podcast at the Mumbrella Publish and Australian Podcast Awards and internationally was nominated for Rose d'Or and IAB awards. [17]

At Audible Naparstek championed amplifying diverse voices, with two podcasts winning the Walkley Award for Media Diversity: No Gangsters in Paradise and The Greatest Menace, an investigation into the world's only 'gay prison', [18] which also won gold at the New York Radio Festivals. In 2019, Naparstek conceived of and launched the inaugural Audible Inspiring Voices Scholarship for Women [19] and led Audible's efforts as the inaugural sponsor of the Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship promoting creators from under-represented communities. [20]

Criticism

In 2013, Naparstek was publicly criticised by John van Tiggelen [21] who became the editor of The Monthly after Naparstek's departure. [22] Van Tiggelen accused Naparstek of underpaying female writers - claims dismissed by Fairfax Media as "absolute nonsense" [23] - and of attempts to poach writers from The Monthly. [21]

In 2015, Naparstek's editorial conduct was publicly criticised by actress Caitlin Stasey. [24] Emails revealed by Stasey showed Naparstek commissioned nude photos of her to accompany an interview about female empowerment she gave to Good Weekend, the publication Naparstek headed at the time. Stasey refused, and consequently had her story canned. [25] Fairfax Media clarified that the story was spiked for editorial reasons and attributed the dispute about the photo shoot to a miscommunication with the photo desk.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Age</i> Melbourne daily newspaper

The Age is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and southern New South Wales. It is delivered both in print and digital formats. The newspaper shares some articles with its sister newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald.

<i>The Sydney Morning Herald</i> Daily compact newspaper in Australia

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the Herald is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and claims to be the most widely-read masthead in the country. The newspaper is published in compact print form from Monday to Saturday as The Sydney Morning Herald and on Sunday as its sister newspaper, The Sun-Herald and digitally as an online site and app, seven days a week. It is considered a newspaper of record for Australia. The print edition of The Sydney Morning Herald is available for purchase from many retail outlets throughout the Sydney metropolitan area, most parts of regional New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.

<i>The Australian</i> Daily newspaper in Australia

The Australian, with its Saturday edition The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right.

Schwartz Publishing is an Australian publishing house, digital media, and news media organisation based in Melbourne, established by Australian property developer Morry Schwartz in the 1980s. Since the late 1990s many of its publications have appeared under the Black Inc imprint. Schwartz Publishing has its complementary brand Schwartz Media, which all sit under the wider group of Schwartz companies, specialising in newspapers, books, essays, magazines, journals, podcasts, and online news media. Its most well-known publications are Quarterly Essay, The Saturday Paper, and The Monthly.

Caroline Overington is an Australian journalist and author. Overington has written 13 books. She has twice won the Walkley Award for investigative journalism, as well as winning the Sir Keith Murdoch prize for journalism (2007), the Blake Dawson Waldron Prize (2008) and the Davitt Award for Crime Writing (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Cave</span>

Peter Cave is an Australian journalist. He retired as Foreign Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in July 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Fennell</span> Australian TV presenter

Marc Fennell is an Australian technology journalist, television presenter, radio personality and author. He became known as co-anchor of The Feed, and as of November 2023 is the host of Mastermind (TV) and Stuff the British Stole and Download This Show (radio).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annabel Crabb</span> Australian journalist and commentator

Annabel Crabb is an Australian political journalist, commentator and television host who is the ABC's chief online political writer. She has worked for Adelaide's The Advertiser, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald, and won a Walkley Award in 2009 for her Quarterly Essay, "Stop at Nothing: The Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull". She has written two books covering events within the Australian Labor Party, as well as The Wife Drought, a book about women's work–life balance. She has hosted ABC television shows Kitchen Cabinet, The House, Back in Time for Dinner and Tomorrow Tonight.

Mark Cornelius Whittaker is an Australian journalist, non-fiction writer and writing coach. He lives in Berry, New South Wales.

Shelley Gare is an Australian journalist and author, who is a contributing editor at The Australian Financial Review. She has held some of Australia's most senior magazine editor positions including editor of both Good Weekend and Sunday Life. Gare won a Walkley Award for her work as an editor of The Australian’s Review of Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedley Thomas</span> Australian journalist

Hedley Thomas is an Australian investigative journalist and author, who has won seven Walkley Awards, two of which are Gold Walkleys.

Jesse Cox was an Australian radio producer, broadcaster, and documentary maker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Swan</span> Scottish-Australian doctor

Norman Swan is a Scottish-born Australian physician, journalist and broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharri Markson</span> Australian journalist, editor and author

Sharri Markson is an Australian journalist and author. She is investigations editor at The Australian and host of the Sky News Australia program Sharri, which airs 8-9pm Monday - Thursday. She is the winner of numerous awards in journalism, including two Walkley Awards.

Jo Chandler is an Australian journalist, science writer and educator. Her journalism has covered a wide range of subject areas, including science, the environment, women's and children's issues, and included assignments in Africa, the Australian outback, Antarctica, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea. She is currently a lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism and Honorary Fellow Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.

Pamela Williams is an Australian investigative journalist and author.

Jeanette Francis, better known as Jan Fran, is a Lebanese-Australian journalist and presenter. She has worked with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), and served as co-host of current affairs and satire TV program The Feed and the podcast The Few Who Do alongside Marc Fennell.

Michael West is an Australian investigative journalist. He is the founder of Michael West Media, a news website specialising in investigative journalism in the areas of business, finance, tax, and energy.

Avani Dias is a Sri Lankan Australian journalist and radio presenter. She was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)'s international foreign correspondent for South Asia, based in New Delhi until April 2024. She will join Four Corners as a reporter after returning to Australia. Dias presented the current affairs program Hack on youth radio station Triple J from 2020 to 2021, after succeeding Tom Tilley at the end of 2019.

Pedestrian, formerly PEDESTRIAN.TV, is a youth digital news and entertainment website based in Sydney, Australia, founded in 2005. It is a subsidiary of Nine Entertainment

References

  1. 1 2 The Jacqueline Rose Reader, publication details
  2. 1 2 Coslovich, Gabriella. "Ben who?", The Age , 27 May 2009.
  3. ↑ "Naparstek the new editor of Good Weekend", The Sydney Morning Herald (15 December 2011)
  4. ↑ Bodey, Michael "Fairfax's Good Weekend editor Ben Naparstek moves to SBS", The Australian . 3 September 2015
  5. ↑ "SBS' online specialist Ben Naparstek to join Edelman as content and digital director". Mumbrella . 10 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Our Team – Board". yourtown.com.au. 31 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Naparstek, Ben's profile". Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "图书详情". Big Apple Agency.
  9. ↑ "Encontros com 40 grandes autores".
  10. ↑ Elder, Bruce (12 September 2009). "Pick of the Week". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  11. ↑ Kaye, Lorien (19 September 2009). "Words with great writers". The Age.
  12. ↑ Gare, Shelley. "In Praise of Miranda Devine". scribd.com. The Spectator.
  13. ↑ Allington, Patrick (1 November 2009). "Brief Encounters". Australian Book Review.
  14. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (14 June 2022). "Banff Rockie Awards: HBO Max's 'Friends: The Reunion,' BBC's 'Vigil' Among Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  15. ↑ Davidowitz, Esther. "New-found passion for home cooking? Check out these James Beard award-winning books, shows". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  16. ↑ "Winners Gallery - New York Festivals". radio.newyorkfestivals.com. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Heist". Marc Fennell. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  18. ↑ SteveAhernAdmin (17 June 2020). "No Gangsters in Paradise wins Walkley Award". RadioInfo Australia. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  19. ↑ "Announcing the Audible Inspiring Voices Scholarship for Women | Australian Film Television and Radio School". www.aftrs.edu.au. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Blackiston, Hannah (10 December 2019). "Patrick Abboud named recipient of inaugural Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship". Mumbrella. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  21. 1 2 Leys, Nick (28 February 2013). "Magazine wars: editor hits back at young 'dalek'". The Australian . p. 3.
  22. ↑ "Plus ca change ... The Monthly turns 10". Crikey . 24 April 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  23. ↑ "Editors' feud: Fairfax boss fires back at Monthly ed's email attack". 28 February 2013.
  24. ↑ "Caitlin Stasey lashes out at Fairfax over nude photo shoot request". ABC News . 16 July 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  25. ↑ Stasey, Caitlin. "When a Magazine Only Wants You If You're Willing to Pose Nude". Jezebel . Retrieved 29 November 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.