Fairfax announces 70-80 redundancies across production, lifestyle and photographic
Fairfax Media has announced a proposal that could see more than 70 positions go from its newspaper arm Australian Publishing Media (APM) across its editorial production, lifestyle and photographic sections.
In an email to staff this morning, Allen Williams, managing director of APM, which publishes mastheads such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Canberra Times, said the “proposed changes” would see the publisher shed around 35 copy-editing and page layout jobs in Sydney and Melbourne by the end of 2014.
The changes would also mean the loss of 15 positions from Life Media, Fairfax’s lifestyle division, and 30 positions in photographic would go as a result of using more pictures from Getty Images. The move, which will see only 5 photographers in Sydney and 5 in Melbourne, has been denounced by the journalists’ union.
The move comes amid uncertainty over what Fairfax will do after cancelling its contract for sub-editing with Pagemasters. As Mumbrella revealed last month, Fairfax is set to end the contract which sees the AAP service subbing news pages across the various mastheads with strong suggestions the 40 jobs in question will be moving to New Zealand.
In the email to staff Williams references the changes and says the company is looking for “new arrangements”.
“Any new arrangements will absorb more copy-editing and page layout work,” Williams wrote. “As a result, we propose to reduce our in-house editorial production team by about 35 FTEs (Full Time Employees) in Sydney and Melbourne no later than December 2014. Included in this number are 10 roles, currently part of the editorial production team, which will move to report directly to newsroom editors.”
Williams goes on to detail the other proposed cuts which include 15 positions from Life Media and also major changes to Fairfax’s photographic division.
“A more flexible structure that better suits modern journalism practices is being proposed and briefings will be conducted today and tomorrow in both Sydney and Melbourne with those affected. We anticipate a reduction of approximately 15 FTEs,” he writes in regards to the lifestyle division of the publisher.
In photographic Fairfax has signalled it will overhaul how it uses photographs, drawing more on Getty Images and restructuring its teams.
“New photographic arrangements would see News, Life and Business in Sydney and Melbourne make greater use of external service provider Getty Images for photographic assignments,” he says.
“The proposed changes would see a reduction of approximately 30 FTEs, retaining approximately 10 staff photographers and approximately 10 photo desk staff who would work as part of a merged visuals commissioning desk. There would be significantly less use of casuals and contributors engaged directly by Fairfax.”
Fairfax Media declined to comment on the changes or whether a decision has been made on whether the company would send more sub-editing jobs to New Zealand.
The journalists union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, has previously expressed concerns about moving more production jobs overseas.
“We have a question in our minds how much more work Fairfax can take on in its New Zealand operation,” an MEAA spokesman told Mumbrella last month.
The changes come after a recent highly publicised edition of the Australian Financial Review, which saw the financial business newspaper publish an error-ridden front page which included the heading “the world is fukt.”
Fairfax staff told Mumbrella they were very concerned with the changes, with one staffer referencing the AFR front page saying “These changes are fukt – FUKT.”
Update 11.45am – The journalists’ union has just denounced the changes with the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance describing them as an “attack on the quality journalism”.
“The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) says the latest round of redundancies at Fairfax Media’s metro daily newspapers represent an assault on the quality journalism that has been the hallmark of the group for more than a century,” said the statement.
The House Committees at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald will meet later today to discuss the option of industrial action.
Nic Christensen
Allen Williams’ full email to staff:
Good morning,
Today we have started discussions with staff about introducing new arrangements in Editorial Production, Life Media and Photographic in Australian Publishing Media.The proposed changes outlined below are focused on the continuing transformation of our business. We must deliver our high-quality content in the most efficient way possible.
We will be consulting with affected staff and holding briefings to address any questions you may have about each of the proposed new arrangements.
EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
Fairfax currently operates a company-wide approach to editorial production, which involves delivering copy-editing and page layout services in a variety of ways to meet the needs of our mastheads.
Three years ago The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and more recently The Canberra Times started working with Pagemasters for copy-editing across news, business and sport print sections. The contract with Pagemasters expires soon and we are in the process of reviewing these external arrangements.Any new arrangements will absorb more copy-editing and page layout work. As a result, we propose to reduce our in-house editorial production team by about 35 FTEs in Sydney and Melbourne no later than December 2014. Included in this number are 10 roles, currently part of the editorial production team, which will move to report directly to newsroom editors. These new positions will be open for application to all News, Business and Life editorial staff.
Our retained team of about 33 FTEs remain reporting to the Managing Editor Production (Australia), Tanya Adams. This team will handle key digital and print production for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times and magazines.
LIFE MEDIA
New arrangements would see Life Media restructure some of its divisions to make greater use of contributors to deliver editorial content. The proposed changes preserve our commitment to quality and would help accelerate the continued growth and expansion of these areas which are an important part of our business.
A more flexible structure that better suits modern journalism practices is being proposed and briefings will be conducted today and tomorrow in both Sydney and Melbourne with those affected. We anticipate a reduction of approximately 15 FTEs.
The new structure would create several new roles and these positions will be open for application to all News, Business and Life Media editorial staff.
PHOTOGRAPHIC
New photographic arrangements would see News, Life and Business in Sydney and Melbourne make greater use of external service provider Getty Images for photographic assignments.The proposed changes would see a reduction of approximately 30 FTEs, retaining approximately 10 staff photographers and approximately 10 photo desk staff who would work as part of a merged visuals commissioning desk. There would be significantly less use of casuals and contributors engaged directly by Fairfax.
Our photographic needs across all platforms continue to be commissioned by editorial however most assignments will be facilitated by Getty photographers for our publications. Fairfax retains the copyright in the photos and they will be for Fairfax’s exclusive use.
The changes we are proposing are similar to the more progressive and efficient models being used by other media organisations around the world.
Fairfax has a long relationship with Getty, which is an award-winning global provider of photographic and other media services across all publishing platforms. We already make extensive use of Getty photographers for our sport and digital requirements.
Under the new arrangements, Matt Martel will take on the role of Executive Editor – Photography and Presentation, with oversight of photography, design, graphics and illustration.
Editorial management will be providing Editorial Production, Life Media and Photographic with more detail about the proposed changes and any resultant redundancy program. Briefings and feedback sessions will be held with these teams as part of our consultation process.We have already been in contact with the MEAA about these proposed changes.
We anticipate being in a position to advise on next steps by 14 May 2014.
Regards,
Allen Williams
Managing Director – Australian Publishing Media
Fairfax Media
Full statement by the MEAA:
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) says the latest round of redundancies at Fairfax Media’s metro daily newspapers represent an assault on the quality journalism that has been the hallmark of the group for more than a century.
With about 10 per cent of all staff targeted, the decision aims to strip a net 25 full-time equivalent jobs from editorial production, 30 photographers (while outsourcing photos to Getty Images) and up to 15 from the Life Media division.
MEAA federal secretary Christopher Warren said: “This will further erode the ability of the staff who remain to do their jobs without a marked increase in work intensification. It strips a massive loss in skills, experience and knowledge from the group.
“Fairfax seems incapable of deciding on new production arrangements and sticking with them. The only decision the company seems capable of making is to keep cutting staff.
“When do we reach the point of no return? Why isn’t more effort being made to protect and promote editorial quality and utilise smarter ways of working? At what point does Fairfax stop being a news organisation and merely become a commissioning agency that outsources everything it does?”
MEAA will hold stop-work meetings with members at Fairfax daily newspapers in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and will pursue discussions with the company.
“Getty, which is an award-winning global provider of photographic and other media services across all publishing platforms”
Let’s not forget the multi award winning photographers you’re sacking.
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What kind of idiot would sign a contract for subbing in a country three hours ahead of the country of publishing after already pulling publishing deadlines forward due to closing of printing sites? Anyfrom from Fairfax, please correct me on that line of questing.
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News photography is a powerful art form. I had the privilege to work with some wonderful photographers at Fairfax. They taught me a lot and I admired their creativity, intelligence and skill. In no particular order, people like Jason South, Craig Sillitoe (sp?), Mario Borg, Angela Wylie (a beautiful photographer, though our paths didn’t much cross), Julian Kingma, Michael Clayton-Jones and dozens more. I’m sad about this. Not critical, because I know the circumstances facing the business are difficult and complex, just very sad.
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Really the end of a very proud era at Fairfax. Their photographic team, and the amazing images they produced , have always been world class. Literally – the number of national and international photographic awards this team has won over the years is staggering. Sadly, no more.
Maybe they can start crowdsourcing photos from their readers
http://myclique.smh.com.au/
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I’m curious how this will work:
“most assignments will be facilitated by Getty photographers for our publications. Fairfax retains the copyright in the photos and they will be for Fairfax’s exclusive use.”
What photographer worth their salt would sign away copyright in their images for a measly Getty day rate? Certainly not the calibre of staff photographers that Fairfax will be jettisoning.
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This from the Guardian’s report on the redundancies: “The photographic department was called to a meeting at Fairfax Media Sydney headquarters at 10am on Wednesday and given the news, a result of an efficiency study.’
Can just imagine the discussion that went on amongst the Bain Consultants who almost certainly came up with the recommendation to decimate the Fairfax photography team: ” Why does Fairfax need so many snappers – I mean, how hard can it be to push a button and take a photo? It’s nothing like the intellectually demanding, time-intensive work WE do – creating endless inpenetrable Powerpoint presentations and meaningless, mnd-numbing spreadsheets, then charging squillions for them.”
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More to come, I suspect. Revenue from Fairfax’s Regional mastheads — which, until now have withstood the structural changes sweeping through the print business relatively well — have started to follow metro masthead revenues over a cliff…..
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Maybe if they had a more unbiased approach to reporting, they may win back a lot of the audience they lost through their left wing bias. They have always claimed that they reach AB demographics, I don’t think so any more. Their editorial rubs up against the people they are supposedly trying to reach for advertisers. Idiots!
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How sad to be referred to as an ‘FTE’.
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Mumbrella loves a fairfax story! More comments than any other time
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Well if they had learned to shoot stills and video at the same time (you’ve got two hands, guys), and learned to edit and upload while still shooting; and if they had learned to teleport between jobs, they wouldn’t be in this mess.
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I haven’t read the smh for years. Boarding the Titanic with the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd government has been their undoing. A watery grave awaits them. By the by, any chance of the malodorous Mike Carlton getting pensioned off?
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@ Darren
Actually not really, because look at how many posts there were in the “At least the Lannisters pay their debts” thread which turned into a Murdoch/Abbott Bashing thread…
Fairfax tend to get a pretty good run despite:
1) The way they’ve run their mastheads
2) Treated their staff, (e.g. essentially sacking their subbies twice by outsourcing their jobs to Pagemasters, who then employed them all then FFX didnt renew the agreement to ship the jobs to cheaper off shore labour)
3) Alienated all of their readers bar the ‘Socialist Aristocrats’ (e.g. those in high income but think because they drive a hybrid are more ‘socially aware’ than you or I) and arts students (who grab their copy for free at Uni anyway).
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Not the time for predictable internet comment ‘left wing bias’ bullshit, Wang.
These photographers are real professionals we’re all losing.
After the consultants and poor managers are done with them, these positions/craftspeople don’t come back.
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@ Wang: The Sydney Morning Herald is the most-read masthead in the country. The problem, as everyone knows, is the downturn in print ad spending can’t be matched by digital. Nothing to do with the number of readers. Fairfax doesn’t have the pools of cash that News Corp can throw at the problem
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This is the beginning of the end as the paper cuts costs. It’s been predicted for some time but an inside source has told me its likely Fairfax will cease its weekday print newspapers at the end of the year.
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There is a parallel between declining product quality and staff morale. Fairfax passed the tipping point some time ago. The real test is whether people want to work there: the sad fact is that most who are there today have few options.
Isolated, aggressive, uninformed leadership is the core failing. For example: when did you last hear any one of them express a view about where exactly they aim to be? Instead we have this mindless chatter about sighting land! The metaphor is plain enough: they are lost.
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Are professional news photographers a dying breed? May 30, 2013 Chicago Sun-Times sacks entire photo department – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-22723725
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Remember a management consultant years ago asking a Fairfax snapper how long it took to take a photo. The snapper replied: ‘On a good day, about 1/125th of a second’.
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@ The Facts — you’re right about SMH being most read masthead in the country, if you factor in print AND digital readership. But Digital readership is very different to, far less engaged and and frankly, far less valuable than print readership ie digital readers spend a matter of minutes PER MONTH reading SMH online vs hours per month for print readers. (Not just a problem for SMH but for all mastheads globally). Partly as a result of this, digital ad yields and revenues are much lower than print and, as you point out, come nowhere close to replacing the money lost from print. Again, same with every masthead the world over. But to cut to the bone the things that differentiate your masthead from competitors (such as amazing, award-winning photographers and photos) hardly seems like the best path to survival. They’ve already lost many of the journos who helped them to stand apart – hence the descent into bland, uninspiring editorial (with some key exceptions eg Kate McClymont).
News Corp are going through the same pain — but they have much deeper pockets than Fairfax, a much better spread of media assets (eg Foxsports, Foxtel, REA etc) and a proprietor prepared to support print well past the point where it is financially viable.
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I kissed fairfax goodbye in 2000 having seen the writing and have never regretted my decision…..I would never ever consider working for Getty…..
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That is what businesses do, they cut the stuff to bare minimum so the ceo/sec’s and owners can maximise the profits and if it all fails, then they can blame it on the government or labour cost and all the other rubbish they claim.
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They need to cull from the top.
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When Fairfax released their last quarterly results Hywood talked everything up — he spoke of “cautious optimism” that Fairfax was “turning a corner ” (or words to this effect). Making still more cuts this deep and desperate sure doesn’t look like a company which has turned any corners….
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Agree with comment 23:
“They need to cull from the top”.
– Hywood saying things like Adzuna is going to disrupt – what planet is this man on?
Also agree with comment 17:
“There is a parallel between declining product quality and staff morale. Fairfax passed the tipping point some time ago. The real test is whether people want to work there: the sad fact is that most who are there today have few options.
Isolated, aggressive, uninformed leadership is the core failing. For example: when did you last hear any one of them express a view about where exactly they aim to be? Instead we have this mindless chatter about sighting land! The metaphor is plain enough: they are lost.”
– The latest, and best GPS is not going to get them to safety, unless they do cull from the top…
Meanwhile the Guardian sighted land, found a safe harbour and have firmly hoisted up their flag. I love this digital revolution!
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