Financial Review editor James Chessell quits to join media start-up

Australian Financial Review editor Cosima Marriner has been promoted to lead the masthead after its editor-in-chief James Chessell announced his resignation on Wednesday to join business columnist Joe Aston’s independent media outlet Rampart.

Chessell took over as editor-in-chief of the Financial Review just over two years ago, having previously been Nine’s managing director of publishing and executive editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The Financial Review is owned by Nine, which also publishes this masthead.

Marriner, who is the Financial Review’s editor and will be the first woman to hold the top job at the publication, said the paper was in the best shape it had ever been.

“Over the last few years we’ve worked hard to modernise the AFR and to broaden our journalism while staying true to our core of business, finance and politics,” Marriner said. “At the AFR what we write matters to decision makers across business, finance and politics.

“My ambition for the AFR is to continue to build on our reputation for breaking major news stories, setting the agenda and being the authoritative voice which shapes our national conversation.”

Aston was a star columnist at the Financial Review for more than a decade before leaving to write a book on former Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and then founding Rampart last year. Chessell will be the publication’s editor and a writer.

The pair worked together in the early 2000s in the office of then-Liberal minister Joe Hockey, and then again when Chessell was a mid-ranking editor at the Financial Review and Aston was a columnist.

Nine’s publishing boss Tory Maguire told staff during a town hall on Wednesday afternoon before informing other staff in an internal note. She said the Financial Review had grown its audience, subscribers and revenue under Chessell and wished him luck in his new role.

“I am thrilled to announce that Cosima Marriner will be taking the reins as the new editor-in-chief,” Maguire said. “Cosima worked alongside James as AFR editor as together they modernised the newsroom and drove the agenda for corporate Australia. She is respected across the industry and perfectly suited to take AFR into its next chapter.”

Marriner will take on the position on October 12. In a speech to staff, Chessell said some journalists would be relieved to see him go and others disappointed.

He said his predecessor, Michael Stutchbury, gave the impression you could stay in the role for decades, having led the paper for 13 years. “You can’t, unless you want a heart attack,” Chessell said.

Upon Rampart’s launch, Nine signed a commercial arrangement with the online outlet, agreeing to do the publication’s legal work in return for a share of revenue. Aston also writes a monthly column for the Financial Review. There is no indication this arrangement will change.

Some staff members at the Financial Review said they were surprised at the sudden departure.

Last month, Rampart announced it had raised $2.3 million in funding and has hired several full-time journalists. Investors included former Nine chief executive David Gyngell and investor and former Packer family advisor Ashok Jacob. It valued the company at around $29 million.

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