Osman Faruqi appointed culture news editor for SMH and The Age

Award-winning journalist and editor Osman Faruqi has been appointed culture news editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

He will be responsible for driving the culture team’s daily news agenda, delivering breaking news and trending stories across television, film, books, music, the arts, celebrity, and pop culture.

Faruqi is a highly experienced writer, news editor, and senior manager who is deeply passionate about arts and culture.

His previous roles include deputy editor at ABC Life, presenter on ABC TV’s The Mix, news editor at Junkee Media, and reporter for ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing for which he won a Kennedy Award.

He is currently head of audio at Schwartz Media, responsible for executive producing the 7am podcast as well as regularly writing for The Saturday Paper and The Monthly. His weekly podcast The Culture won best arts and culture podcast at the Australian Podcast Awards.

"We are very excited to have someone of Osman's calibre and experience heading up the culture news team at The Age and The Herald,” said Tory Maguire, executive editor. “His passion for the subject and building audiences will ensure our mastheads continue to have the best culture coverage in the country."

Faruqi, who contributed opinion pieces to the mastheads over summer, said he’s excited to drive the mastheads’ culture coverage.

"The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have an extraordinary stable of culture writers and reporters, and I can't wait to work with them and our team of contributors to create engaging, smart, and must-read news and features across television, film, books, music, the arts, celebrity and pop culture,” he said.

"The best culture writing can help us understand what we as a society value and care about. It can be informative, fun, and thought-provoking - and I'm thrilled at the opportunity to lead the team at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age to do just that".

Osman will begin his role in March.