Former Q+A presenter Stan Grant has announced a new career move after dramatically leaving the ABC last year following racist attacks online.
The Saturday Paper has announced that Grant, a multiple Walkley Award-winning journalist, will join the paper as a columnist from this weekend, which coincides with the paper’s 10th anniversary.
Grant has worked in media as a journalist, broadcaster, author and filmmaker in 80 locations around the world for over four decades.
His most recent high-profile role was as host of Q+A from 2022 to 2023, until he resigned, saying he was fed up with racist abuse directed at him by online commentators, and dissatisfaction with the media landscape in general.
‘The Saturday Newspaper is a writers’ newspaper and readers want to work with ideas. That’s where I want my work to end up,” Grant said of his new role.
Stan Grant (and wife Tracey Holmes) at a screening of the documentary ‘The Australian Dream’ at the Art Gallery of NSW, sponsored by his new employer The Saturday Paper
Since leaving the ABC, Grant has been appointed Asia Pacific director of the Constructive Institute, a Denmark-based institute that focuses on positive journalism and works with Monash University.
‘I have been fortunate to have traveled the world over a forty-year career in journalism, covering the great stories of our time, and I want to use that experience to understand a world in which we talking over each other far too often not to do that. each other,” he said.
“Journalism has been part of the problem, but I still think words matter and my promise to readers is that my columns will look at a shared humanity, at a commitment to justice, and support those affected in generosity and love.’
Grant has Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal heritage.
He has three Walkley Awards, a Logie, a Peabody and four Asian Television Awards.
Erik Jensen, editor-in-chief of the Saturday Paper, said: “Few people write with Stan’s grace and erudition.
“He is one of the sharpest journalists in the country and he brings a great deal of intellect and feeling to his work.”
Mr Jensen said Grant’s column aims to inspire readers and provoke in-depth debate by drawing on his wealth of experience.
‘He believes in the power of ideas to change society – and that’s what his column will try to do.’
Grant dramatically left the ABC in 2023, citing dissatisfaction with online trolls, the ABC’s management and the media landscape in general
Grant’s departure from Q+A sparked a broader discussion about the public role of journalists, especially those from diverse backgrounds, and the extent to which they are protected by management.
It also led to protests from ABC employees who left their jobs in solidarity with Grant.
During his final appearance as a Q+A presenter, he left with a heartfelt speech in which he questioned whether the media had become “part of the problem” in society’s divisions.
ABC colleague Patricia Karvelas was later named as his replacement.