Former Age editor Andrew Jaspan returned to the public eye yesterday morning on Jon Faine’s program on ABC 774 Melbourne. There was a lot of nattering, but also some interesting facts. For example, Jaspan quoted the cost of producing The Age as being about $50 million — a figure that to my knowledge has not been in the public realm before. But over what period does he mean? If it is a year, then it seems far too low.

He also gave some information on what he is going to do next.

Jaspan said that he was staying in Melbourne and had been approached to join the Global Cities Institute — an initiative of the United Nations based at RMIT University.

When I rang the Institute at RMIT this afternoon, none of the staff on deck had heard anything about Jaspan’s appointment. It later emerged that he is a member of the advisory committee for the Institute — which is an honorary position. The Director of the Institute, Paul James, said Jaspan had joined late last year and had been “terrific” and “most enthusiastic” in engaging cities in the region, and advising on research priorities.

Read more about what Jaspan said on my blog.