Mia Freedman: News Limited is dropping my column for business reasons
Mia Freedman’s Sunday newspaper column has been axed with half of her contract to run because her website is competitive with News Limited, the journalist has suggested.
The axing came less than a year after News Limited poached Freedman from Fairfax, where she had written a column for a decade.
Freedman also owns her own website mamamia.com.au which has become a major online player in its own right. In a post on Mamamia, Freedman said that she received a call dropping the column on Friday.
She wrote: “It was all unexpected actually, having been pursued by News Ltd for two years before I agreed to resign from Fairfax (where I had been writing a column for 10 happy years) and with the news coming less than halfway through my contract.
Freedman said that she understood that newspapers are being forced to make heavy cutbacks, but suggested it was also due to other factors. She said:
“But I also understand this is not just about cost cutting. I’ve heard for some time now that there are some at News Ltd not happy about the idea of their newspapers promoting me and Mamamia, who they now view as competition to some of their business interests – particularly online and magazines. Thus the ‘new strategy’ I hear will soon be implemented for more internal cross promotion.”
“Fair enough. Business is business and they must look after their own. On a commercial level I understand that. On a personal one however, it’s harder….”
She said that the column would end “in a few months”.
Freedman’s column is nationally syndicated across the company’s five main Sunday papers – The Sunday Telegraph in NSW, the Sunday Herald Sun in Victoria, The Sunday Mail in Queensland, the Sunday Mail in South Australia and The Sunday Times in Western Australia – suggesting that a decision will have come from a senior level within News Limited.
Since Freedman was appointed, changing circumstances have included the arrival of Kim Williams as the new CEO of News Limited and the reduction of speculation that the company might be about to buy Mamamia.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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(Moderated by Mumbrella)
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When will these people learn? NEVER EVER trust News Ltd. EVER!
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Yes, when will these people – as in News Ltd – learn? There’s just so much of this never-ending yummy mummy pondering on life and its little trials that a bloke can take.
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Moderated by Mumbrella
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That’s a pity. Her column last Sunday was probably her best.
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Mia has VERY cleverly leveraged her profile in print and TV to boost her own website, which in turn rides on the back of the ‘Mummy Blogger’ wave.
What I find it hard to believe is that any newspaper paid her so much for what was in effect a massive promo for her own website.
And believe me, I know how much she was paid, it was an insane package, and some might say an ‘insulting’ one when they are also laying off talented staff writers who worked hard to deliver real news on real issues rather than rattle off puffery. Yes, well-written puffery but puffery all the same.
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News Limited knew what they were getting when they hired Freedman. To chop her half way into a contract makes you wonder if they ever wanted her for her column or if they were just trying to get at Fairfax. It should make anyone being offered a job at News Limited to think twice before taking it.
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Jack B. Nimble Freedman may or may not have been paid an insane package, but nobody forced News Limited into paying it. It was all their own work.
And while there may have been some staff writers at The Daily Telegraph who worked hard to deliver real news on real issues, there were not many. The paper is not well written and so politically biased it reads as if it was being produced tongue in cheek.
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welcome to the new digital world where everyone competes with everyone…
It’s hard to not have a conflict of interest with clients or employers these days if you want to have any kind of profile online.
Mia can take the sacking as an endorsement of her success. She and her team have built a formidable online product. Good for them.
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Ms Freedman shares not the slightest bit of empathy with those who have lost their main source of income when they’ve been fired.
(And appallingly, she doesn’t seem to know the difference between “I” and “me”)
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Sounds like News made what they believe was a fair acquisition offer for MamaMia … Jason and Mia turned it down … things went back and forth … no agreement could be made so News walked away and decided that the column no longer made sense as they couldn’t acquire MM on what they believed to be fair terms and they no longer wanted to fuel the growth of the MM business as all it would do would add value to an external business.
Just reading between the lines here …
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Mia’s column was dropped because it just wasn’t good enough and her writing skills are not sufficient enough to carry an entire page. Clearly when she was at Fairfax she was working with a very good sub editor who could whip her copy into shape and make it readable. At News she obviously doesn’t have that luxury and what readers were getting is the “lightly subbed” version of her copy and it’s just not strong enough to stand on its own. It just goes to show how every writer benefits from a good editor.
The dumping of Mia Freedman’s column is not a sign of the death of newspapers (moderated by Mumbrella)
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Makes me wonder whether News or Fairfax’s opinion/lifestyle columns can hope to compete against thousands of well-established, popular, well-written blogs without the restrictions of major commercial entities…
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Bob – Nielson show’s that Fairfax’s opinion site Daily Life is doing very well against Mamamia.
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MeMeMeMeMe you seem to have some insight into the lack of quality sub editors at the Telegraph. Assuming you are correct then we can all expect a further downgrade of the quality of copy going into all newspapers in Sydney as both News Limited and Fairfax have reduced the volume of subeditors working on their newspapers.
It would be nice if you are right and the new editor at the Sunday Telegraph is able to breath new life into the paper. However it is more likely with less staff doing far more work the paper will soon be in an iron lung awaiting burial.
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Ego Mama – I think it may be you that needs a lesson in “me” and “I”. If you’re referring to Mia’s quote in the article above, she uses both words correctly.
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@Anna Perhaps you need to get yourself a copy of Strunk & White from Amazon?
“There are journalists far more talented and experienced than me who have found themselves on the wrong side of the balance sheet.”
Look it up if you’re not sure, dear.
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Miaow! Saucer of milk for @Anna and @Ego Mama!
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shut up you bitching underemployed journos!
you are obviously green with envy at the risk and success of Mia Freedman!
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Ego Mama, you are quite right. I hadn’t read Mia’s post in full, only what was quoted in the article above and I couldn’t see anything wrong with it.
No need for Strunk and White (although having looked it up, it does look like a very interesting read).
Still, there are far worse grammar crimes than confusing “I” and “me”. In fact Mumbrella have been guilty of one in the last few emails Tim has sent out. I’ve been waiting to see how many they’ll send before it’s corrected…
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I agree with the comment above: the move is indeed an endorsement of Mia’s success.
Mia Freedman started her website from a laptop in her lounge room, just a handful of years ago.
She did so at a time when she was feeling pretty bruised, having just left Nine.
Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for herself, she knuckled down, and built a site that now commands enormous respect and attention.
As I understand it, she employs as many as 20 people, and her site brims with advertising.
She has just added a shopping component, and the Mamamia radio show.
Hundreds of thousands of readers gather at MamaMia each week, both to be entertained and to engage – and that includes a great many men.
She’s an immensely successful new player on the media landscape, a savvy businesswoman, a true entrepreneur – and a first-class writer, to boot.
More power to her elbow. Her future looks pretty bright to me.
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