The Big Smoke: Australia’s answer to The Huffington Post launches this week
This week, a new opinion site likened to The Huffington Post called TheBigSmoke.com.au has launched in Australia. The site will aim to provide impartial, balanced and edgy content that is set to rival the current lacklustre consumer media fare. The Big Smoke (TBS) will focus its content on political and cultural scenarios that the nation currently faces, issues of gender equality and popular culture.
Co-founded by Simon Tedeschi, leading concert pianist and respected writer, and leading business expert and entrepreneur Alexandra Tselios, The Big Smoke will provide a distinctive voice that reflects the myriad of challenges and changes in the shifting Australian social landscape.
Since launching this week the site has already received over 20,000 impressions.
Says Ms. Tselios, publisher of TBS: “We believe Australia needed a new player. We wanted to create a platform that is politically unaligned, independent and fearless. Our research has shown that Australian professionals are sick and tired of the current media landscape consumed with biased opinions and sensationalised stories.
“The Big Smoke caters to the discerning reader who is not necessarily a political junkie but wants a snapshot of the current political climate. A focus on the arts, politics, gender equality and popular culture (albeit with a bitchy twist), is what the site is all about.”
More than 60 contributors to the site have been enlisted to date with many high profile writers on board including Derryn Hinch, Gretel Killeen, Mayor Clover Moore, Nicholas Cowdery AM QC, John Bell AO OBE, Rev Bill Crews and Senator Lee Rhiannon. Interviews with Prue MacSween and comic Pam Ann will also feature shortly with other industry leaders to appear over the coming weeks.
Says Tselios: “TBS is not weighed down by hard-bitten journos, but draws primarily from two streams; dynamic, emerging writers with their ear to the pulse of society, and high profile public figures who are some of Australia’s game-changers. We also have some of Australia’s boldest, sassiest, angriest and funniest writers on board.”
The Big Smoke is the first project to be launched by The Belleford Group, a new company established by Mr. Tedeschi and Ms. Tselios. Both founders are highly regarded across a number of industries including the Arts, business, public sector, fashion and media.
Says Tselios: “While most, if not all Australian media outlets, confuse being balanced with being polarised against the ‘other side,’ The Big Smoke sits squarely in the middle of the political spectrum, providing a voice to contributors on both the right and left. We won’t play the game, we let our writers do that.”
A range of brands are already advertising on the site including Republica Coffee, Serendipity Ice Cream, Immortal Skin and Darlo Drama.
Says Tselios: “It is important for TBS to align itself with brands that actually resonate with our readers.”
To check out The Big Smoke or to submit an application to write for, or advertise with the site, click here.
1 Comment
I feel very sorry for any peace loving, law abiding Muslim in this country at the moment. They must be tearing their hair out at the horrible atrocities being carried out in the name of their faith. Where will it all end ? Hatred breeds fear and ends in more hatred and more fear in a never ending spiral. Fundamentalism in any faith scares me, especially when groups think that theirs is the ONLY way. Surely the way ahead is for us all to have some respect for other’s way of thinking.