Just when you thought
the media had the lifestyle sector well and truly covered, Aunty has
decided to weigh in, with the ABC announcing it will launch a glossy
lifestyle magazine called Goodlife next month pitched at the professional, 35-plus, AB, ABC specimen.

Described
in the ABC press statement as a magazine that “explores the things that
make a meaningful life – good health, good home, good finances, good
relationships and good living,” Goodlife will be published bi-monthly. But is this really the ABC’s bag?

“I know why they’ve done it,” says long-time ABC staffer Quentin
Dempster, who points to operational-based funding pressure as the main
driving force behind the ABC’s increasing pursuit of commercial
revenues. “And I support the ABC Shops and other ABC enterprises
because they are value-adding,” he says. “Some of the things the ABC
does can fill the gaps.”

“One
of my concerns,” says Dempster, “is that any new ABC enterprises should
be original and innovative” and not just exploiting opportunities. The
primary concern of the public broadcaster, he says, is always that it
doesn’t get to the stage where “the commercial tail wags the charter
dog.”

Goodlife will be edited by former Fairfax
journalist and ex-Random House publisher Jane Southward, with
contributions from ABC staples like Julie McCrossin, Richard Glover and
Corinne Grant.