News

News Limited pushes on with ‘superdesk’ restructure in Victoria and makes photographic redundancies

News Limited’s restructure has continued with the creation of a new “seven-day superdesk structure” for editorial in Victoria while a reported 45 photographers are to be made redundant nationally.

The Victorian restructure is the latest move to the company’s one city, one newsroom” vision outlined by News Limited boss Kim Williams.

All of the new positions will report in to Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston and Herald Sun weekend editor Jill Baker.

The new roles, announced in a statement from News, are as follows:

Head of News
Ellen Whinnett will become the master of the engine room and key content driver.  She will be responsible for identifying and developing local content, ensuring  the right content mix and managing quality control.  With an acute understanding of consumer needs and interest, she will determine the channel and time for publication. This role co-ordinates with local and network peers to ensure content potential is maximized across all platforms. In Johnston’s absence she will run news conferences and edit the paper in conjunction with Gardner.

Head of sport
Matt Kitchin will become Head of Sport for News Victoria. He will ensure that we maximise the potential for our sports coverage to connect with our vast audience on a deeper, richer level and that we remain competitive and innovative in content and delivery.  Kitchin will be responsible for identifying and developing local content across all platforms; and co-ordinating with network peers to manage resources and avoid duplication. He will assess and edit  content and decide on channel and time for publication.

Head of vision
Cameron Tandy will work across all state publications and will be responsible for local photographic and video content – commissioning, editing and selecting images for publication by channel and time; and managing local resources.  He will co-ordinate with network and interstate peers to ensure transparency and distribution of content and to eliminate potential duplication.

Head of lifestyle
Tracey Linguey will ensure we maximise the potential of our lifestyle content and that it delivers richer and deeper engagement with our consumers.  Linguey will ensure we remain competitive and innovative in our lifestyle content and delivery. She is responsible for identifying and developing local content across all platforms; and co-ordinating with network peers to manage resources and avoid duplication. She will assess and edit content and decide on channel and time for publication.

Areas that will come under the direction of the Head of Lifestyle include Confidential, Arts and Entertainment and Weekend.

Head of business
Peter Taylor will ensure the Herald Sun continues to lead the way with its coverage of business issues, the economy, small business, financial advice and the cost of living through breaking news stories, exclusive reports and analysis on all platforms. He will identify, develop and edit our business content and ensure its readership is maximised through placement not just in Victoria but across the News Ltd network.

Head of digital
Nathaniel Bane, our acknowledged expert in all things digital, will apply expertise and understanding of the web, tablet and mobile platforms and their consumer reach/needs and demographics, in the development of local digital content. He will identify and commission content for digital platforms and coordinate with superdesk peers on the timing of publication.

Network editor
Kelvin Healey will champion network content and initiatives within Victoria. He will be responsible for ensuring all network content is fed into the super desk and lifts content from the city super desk to the network. This network role will assist in localising network content through copy tasting and through working with News Editors to organise local content to supplement the network stories.

News editors
Chris Tinkler, Liam Houlihan, Natalie Gregg, Fiona Welsh and Felicity Hetherington will work across seven days between 6am and midnight to plan, co-ordinate and manage the  Herald Sun reporters to deliver engaging and relevant content for our readers across all platforms. As the leaders of the newsroom, they are responsible for maintaining the Herald Sun’s position as the leading source of exclusive reports, breaking news and analysis in Victoria. They will manage content creation from assignment to delivery and also perform a copytasting role to ensure copy is delivered to the story brief. The News Editors will report to Head of News Ellen Whinnett and will move into the roles over the coming weeks.

In addition to these staff changes, works will soon take place on level 12 to build a new desk structure where members of the superdesk will operate from. The works will include a central conference table  where all conferences and newsroom discussions will take place.

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