It seems every fifteen years or so Eureka Street has something to announce. There was 1991, when Eureka Street launched, 2006 with the switch from print to digital, and now, the next chapter in the Eureka Street journey.
But before we go into the details, some background: it’s no secret the last few years have been ones of pruning. You will have noticed Eureka Street went from five daily mail outs to two per week, plus the weekly. But thanks to your support, Eureka Street has continued to make valuable contributions to the public conversation.
Throughout this time, we continued to pay contributors and we want to continue doing this. Now, once again, we find it’s time to adapt to the challenges of the digital era.
The need for shared political, cultural and literary meeting grounds has never been greater and the need for publications like Eureka Street has never been more evident. Dip into an online forum and you’d be forgiven for thinking we’d witnessed the last days of civil society long ago. Over the last decade, we’ve seen an erosion of shared stories and a shared reality, abetted by socially corrosive social media.
Media seems less durable, less reflective, and no one seems to agree on much. With fracturing and fragmentation, more shared intellectual space is contested. More people live in self-contained media echo chambers with the volume of outrage permanently dialled up to eleven. And with that outrage, there’s less time to express sympathy for the views of opposing groups. According to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, social media has been perfectly engineered to bring out our most moralistic and least reflective selves. At Eureka Street, we see the need to invert that trend by offering stories lighter on the moralising, heavier on reflection.
With pruning comes regrowth and renewal. Over the last two years, we have reviewed our business model, exploring sustainable ways of bringing you regular, thought-provoking stories and ideas. We’ve now developed what we feel to be the most sustainable way to operate into the future, while maintaining that openness and accessibility.
Which is why I am quietly overjoyed to be launching Eureka Street Plus, an expanded content offering for paid subscribers.
'The magazine’s offering has expanded, but our ongoing project remains: publishing reflective, high-quality writing. At this strange point in history, furthering productive conversation about issues that matter continues to be as essential as ever.'
Eureka Street Plus is a place where respectful in-depth public conversation can take place in the grey area between polarities; a place to air differing perspectives, thoughts and concerns without fear of reprisals. It’s about making space to further enable the productive conversations necessary for an engaged, functioning society.
And I should stress that our content offering of opinion and analysis aimed at starting the conversation will remain available and free to access. We’re simply allowing access to extra, premium content for those who want it.
What can you expect from a Eureka Street Plus subscription? Access to all the premium subscriber-only content, which includes:
Eureka Street Plus Bi-monthly Essays.
Deeper conversations must have a starting point, and the Eureka Street Plus Bi-monthly essays provide just that. The authors, experts in their fields, present their case for a specific topic. The lengthy format is specifically designed to provide an in-depth commentary, with its main aim to evoke further discussion.
Eureka Street Plus Roundtables.
Three-way articles from three writers are full conversations in miniature. These monthly pieces will bring together a number of current and new contributors to offer ideas and insights on pressing issues in the public conversation.
Eureka Street Plus Stray Thoughts.
These bite-sized weekly editorials and brief conversation starters will come from our editorial team, picking up on new and interesting ideas around the internet and offering a starting point for conversation among subscribers.
Eureka Street Book Corner.
Eureka Street has a long history of reviewing works of non-fiction, literature and poetry. Here we lean into that tradition with monthly review essays. Each review essay will be lengthy and explore ideas posed by, and going beyond, the book in question. These will come from Andrew Hamilton and a suite of Eureka Street writers.
Eureka Street Plus Community Forums.
Engaging in the public conversation in real time is the aim of Eureka Street Plus Community Forums. This is a flexible forum providing exclusive online access to Eureka Street guests and writers to discuss articles written or current issues.
Further, there will be a shift in the delivery of our content. At present, we send three newsletters a week. We’ll be collating this into the one weekly issue featuring the stories we published during the week.
It feels both like a humble beginning and a continuation, consistent with those days starting out in a small office by a Richmond laneway 30 years ago. The magazine’s offering has expanded, but our ongoing project remains: publishing reflective, high-quality writing. At this strange point in history, furthering productive conversation about issues that matter continues to be as essential as ever.
Eureka Street Plus will require a paid yearly subscription of $90 p.a. (or $9 monthly). Sign up today and you can read our very first essay, ‘The Uluru Statement, the Constitution and the Election’ by Fr Frank Brennan. It’s a worthy starting point for the deeper conversations we’re looking to facilitate through our new subscription offering.
So please join us in this new venture. Subscribe here, join the conversation and add to the groundswell for lively, civil debate about values. And in the process enjoy yourselves. Welcome to Eureka Street Plus.
David Halliday is editor of Eureka Street.