Raphaella Kathryn (RK) Crosby – Publisher
Raphaella (or Kath to many in the New England) is a journalist and broadcaster with extensive political and industry experience. She founded New England Times as the first step in a three stage vision to give the New England region back her voice. An experienced leader, she is also the founder of health charity Migraine Australia, and is passionate about delivering the services people need and want where governments and big business have failed. Having travelled extensively for her consulting and strategy work, and needing to be near major hospitals when her hemiplegic migraine demands it, she will always call the New England home and tries to get back to Armidale as often as possible. Raphaella is the main editor of New England Times.
Kate Brown – Senior Journalist and Editor
Kate is a proud mum of two with a wealth of journalism, media and communications experience across the New England and its surrounding regions. She raises guide dogs in her spare time, loves a good chat with her friends and colleagues, and enjoys living her best life floating between country living and the big smoke. In addition to being one of our main story writers, Kate helps manage our newsdesk and freelancers.
Penelope Shaw – Senior Journalist and Content Coordinator
Penelope is a broad spectrum writer and journalist by trade and passion. After spending over a decade working in health and government, she was awarded her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a Major in English Literature in 2018, and has since pursued writing full time. The softest spot in her heart is reserved for stories about literature, the performing arts and good food. In her free time, Penelope enjoys travelling with her family, playing the piano, reading and photography. As well as being our number one advertorial writer, Penelope helps coordinate the freelancers.
Reuben Artmann – Digital Content, Data Journalist, and Advertising
Originally from Melbourne, Reuben is a chef who fell in love with data and works with the team to display data better. He also does the daily emails and advertising coordination.
Makenzie Wall – Digital Content, Events Journalist and Advertising
Mak is a UNE student studying animal science and one of our advertising representatives, as well as managing our events calendar, directory, and assisting Reuben with digital content.
Lia Edwards – Staff Writer
Lia is a disability advocate and writer who lives on a classic Northern Tablelands property where you can’t see anything but nature. She is the main staff member who manages the newsdesk, writing up stories from press releases and other announcements.
Ingrid Rothe – Advertising and Marketing
With RK since the beginning of the idea, Ingrid and her team at Vivid Thinking are integral to the success of the New England Times assisting with advertising, graphic creation and branding.
Regular freelancers
Michael Burt – Senior Correspondent
Michael is a highly experienced journalist who works on many of our investigations and detailed agriculture and environment stories.
Tom Plevey – Senior Correspondent
Former Bingara and now Tamworth local Tom is a highly experienced journalist and former editor of the Gwydir Times. Tom works mostly on Investigative Unit stories, politics, and Tamworth stories.
Bec Gracie – Senior Journalist
Tamworth based Bec is a senior journalist specialising in country music with more than a decade’s service at the Northern Daily Leader.
Beth Platford – Journalist
Beth resides in the village of Rocky River, near Uralla. She is heavily involved in the local community – both with the school as a parent, and as an advocate for the recognition and preservation of Rocky River’s unique history. Beth strongly believes that small communities are largely unsupported in mainstream media channels. She is proud to help give these places and their people a voice, in support of their proud history, spirit, and character.
Cameron Magusic – Journalist
Cameron is an experienced news writer and consummate media professional, with previous bylines in SmartCompany, The Australian Farmer, Innovation Intelligence and other local outlets.
Having completed his bachelor of journalism and master of communication at RMIT – one of Australia’s leading universities for media studies – Cameron uses his cross-disciplinary knowledge and industry experience to source news stories and find unique angles that create impact.
Jean-Paul Pelosi (JP) – Journalist
JP is an experienced journalist and editor from Sydney. He has covered finance, business, real estate, sport and travel, and has contributed to leading publications such as The Guardian, Crikey, Domain, The Sun-Herald and The North Shore Times, among others. He often writes with a sleeping cavoodle at his feet.
Donna Watson – Journalist
Donna is an experienced journalist and communications generalist, having begun writing at just 14 years old for her local newspaper in the small WA wheat and sheep town where she lived. She continued with a career in print, radio and TV news and current affairs with several major networks across Australia and in South Africa. These days Donna enjoys sailing with her husband, reading, cooking, yoga and dogs.
Kristin Murdock – Journalist
Kristin has been a journalist for 25 years and lives regionally. Her passion is writing about rural life and issues, particularly in the agricultural sector. A published author of crime and YA novels, in her spare time she can be found forcing herself to work on her latest manuscript.
Molly Beare – Student Journalist
Molly is a final year journalism student at Griffith University who proudly calls Tamworth home.