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Crikey (a euphemism for Christ) is an Australian independent online gossip-news service established by Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of Victorian premier, Jeff Kennett. It developed out of Mayne's campaign to bring down the Kennett Government through the "jeffed.com" website.
Well known in Australian political and media circles, crikey.com.au has been more influential than its relatively low online newsletter subscriber base (around 4,000 paying, and 20,000 receiving a free, limited version) suggests. It often reports unpopular opinions and breaks stories not found in more mainstream media outlets. It is this type of reporting that led to Crikey being banned from the 2005 Budget "lock up", in which financial journalists are shown the Federal Budget papers some hours in advance so that their publications can report the Budget in depth as soon as it is released. Staff of Treasurer Peter Costello gave the excuse that Crikey is not considered to be part of the "mainstream media".
Critics of Crikey have argued that it often publishes material with little or no substantial evidence to back it up. The site was successfully sued for defamation over comments it posted about radio presenter Steve Price and former ALP senator Nick Bolkus. The publication has since formally adopted stronger correction and right-of-reply policies, including an undertaking to put the rectifications of major errors in a position of equal prominence to the original reports, a policy almost never practiced by traditional newspapers.
On February 1, 2005, it was announced that Stephen Mayne had sold Crikey to Private Media Partners, another independent media operator in Australia, owned by former Editor-In-Chief of the Sydney Morning Herald, Eric Beecher, and most widely known for its former, failed, news magazine The Eye. The sale to PMP, when complete, will be for $A1 million (approximately $US700,000). Mayne continues to write for Crikey. PMP, however, has announced the publication will take on more a "professional" style, with a reduction in the number of anonymous and pseudonymous pieces published (which were a hallmark of Mayne's editorship) and the replacement of the former practice of publishing more than one issue on busy days at varying times with a single weekday e-mail published around 1:30pm AEDT. The changeover has not met with universal acclaim by subscribers, however.
Longstanding writers for Crikey are: Stephen Mayne, Christian Kerr (a former Liberal staffer previously writing under the pseudonym Hillary Bray), and Hugo Kelly. Its hallmarks have been the use of nicknames for prominent figures and the compilation of lists on various topics. It is unclear how far this will change with the proposed "professionalisation" of Crikey. While having a reputation of purveying gossip, the mainstay of Crikey is political and business commentary. Crikey was described by former Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham as the "most popular website in Parliament House" in the controversial Latham Diaries. Hugo Kelly was sacked by Crikey in February 2006.