About Crawford Media

Crawford Media Consulting is both the home of the Crawford Media news posts and my online business card. To sign up to receive the Crawford Media newsletter and podcast in your inbox every week, go to the newsletter page.

In the business of media

Hal Crawford has 25 years experience in media, successfully leading news organisations through tumultuous and continual change, developing content products and undertaking original research that has shed light on audience engagement. As Crawford Media Consulting, Hal is now working with industry and government to improve media outcomes.

Measuring

Bringing an evidence-based approach to assessing media performance, through the use of data. Expert in the practical application and understanding of both digital and offline analytics, including web, app, TV and radio analytics.

Understanding

Understanding how financial constraints interact with content quality and output and how to maximise both. Investigating how editorial cultures interact with sales and how to build communications in order to maximise revenue within editorial value constraints. Expert assessment of stakeholder opinion and conflicts, with a view to practical solutions.

Encouraging

An experienced leader of editorial teams who understands the creative temperament and can help break down silos, creating productive and dynamic structures.

What CMC can help you with

  • Understanding and implementing performance analytics
  • Evaluating performance and structure of teams
  • Development and execution of content strategies including distribution
  • Assessing content investment decision-making and process
  • Maximising efficiency within commercial and not-for-profit content environments
  • Interviewing stakeholders and collating and interpreting feedback
  • Facilitating public panels on content-related topics

Hal’s experience

  • Advisory Board Chair for the Centre for Media Transition at UTS (current)
  • Consultant for independent Crown agency NZ On Air (current)
  • Independent assessor for DIGI under the The Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation (current)
  • Author of the NZ Media Fund Review and the Public Interest Journalism Fund consultation and recommendations.
  • Chief News Officer at Mediaworks in Auckland, overseeing a national TV, radio and digital newsroom
  • Editor-in-chief and Publisher at ninemsn, Australia’s then-biggest online news provider and portal
  • Co-founder of a social media news sharing project, Sharewars, which gathered and analysed content data from the world’s biggest news publishers
  • Author of All Your Friends Like This, published by HarperCollins in 2015
  • Non-executive Director of Pedestrian.TV, a youth content publisher
  • Member of the Australian Press Council