For a couple of people who like to claim “we used to be journos”, we did quite a bit of journalism-ing this past week. Why? To get to the bottom of what’s really behind the abrupt closure of Meanjin, one of Australia’s oldest and most respected literary journals.
On the surface, Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) says the decision was “purely financial.” But something doesn’t add up. The numbers look less like accounting and more like creative writing given we can reveal there's been an offer of a cash injection.
Listen to this week's episode as we unpack it all.
A journal with a long, respected history
Etterati, let’s rewind. Meanjin was born in Brisbane in 1940 before moving to Melbourne in 1945. For the last 17 years it has sat under the umbrella of Melbourne University Publishing, with editorial independence. It’s the journal that has interrogated who we are as a country - essays, poetry, ideas that stuck to your ribs. Only last year it released Essays That Changed Australia, a collection spanning 80 years of work.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, seemingly out of nowhere, came the announcement: Meanjin would be axed, its final issue set for December 2025.
Editors blindsided, contributors furious. The official line? “Purely financial.”'
The money line ... where the math ain't mathing
Here’s where things get hard to comprehend. Melbourne Uni’s overall finances? A cool $3.2 billion in revenue last year. They spent $74.6 million on “travel and staff development” and $21 million on “advertising, marketing and promotional expenses.” But apparently, two part-time editors and a modest stable of contributors tipped them into crisis?
Deputy editor Eli McLean told Ette Media this :
“The university has a proven track record of crushing pro-Palestine activism on its campuses in whatever way it can. I can’t imagine they would have taken kindly to Meanjin, technically a University of Melbourne publication, pushing such bold and uncompromising positions for Palestine against Zionism. Positions that I and the rest of the masthead unequivocally stand by.”
