News Limited set to cut jobs while Fairfax reported to be mulling closure of weekday editions
(A misdirected link on the Mumbrella daily email may have taken you here in error. To read about the CommBank rebranding, click here.)
Both of Australia’s largest newspaper publishers appear set for upheaval with News Limited preparing for a restructuring involving a reported 400 editorial job cuts and the board Fairfax Media reported to have discussed no longer printing the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on weekdays.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald, published by Fairfax, says that News Limited is expected to announce “major job cuts” next week. News Limited’s The Australian’s Media Diary adds: “News Limited chief executive Kim Williams is set to announce on June 4 how the streamlining of the company he has spoken about since the start of this year will actually work.”
Among the projects understood to be underway at News Limited is a move to seven day operations, rather than having entirely separate teams for daily and Sunday newspapers. A spokesman for News Limited told Mumbrella:
News Limited is undergoing a substantial transformation aimed at improving our business and the quality of our products.
“As we work through internal initiatives we will always work with our staff to ensure that changes are made with care and with a view to minimal disruption as we transform the company and make it stronger in delivering great products to consumers and advertisers.
“It is not News Limited’s practice to discuss internal organisational matters and general operational initiatives in public and so we will not be providing a running commentary.”
Meanwhile, a report in The Australian, published by News Limited, says that the board of Fairfax Media last week discussed the possibility of closing the printed weekday editions of The Age and the SMH. The possibility is something that has been speculated about within the industry for some months – weekend editions are profitable, while daily papers are far less so.
At the time of posting, Fairfax has not returned Mumbrella’s request for comment.
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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The reported cuts and closures are sad news but I couldn’t help laughing at the fact that Fairfax reported News Ltd’s cuts, whilst News Ltd reported Fairfax’s reported closures.
The two organisations are as bad as Labor and the Libs – always trying to get the jump on each other.
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Now we’re talking. These moves should have happened years ago. Both companies need to slash their print, sales and even editorial teams and rehire digital natives.
Working for a (major) outlet run by newspaper men who had their assistants print out copies of webpages to read in hardcopy was my experience – a few months ago. I clashed with one editor over a report he had not read in The Guardian. The response, “How was I meant to know? I don’t get The Guardian delivered.”
Billion dollar companies will not succeed with such people running things.
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I think what they’re both really saying is that the numbers are really very bad. News folks know that Hartigan is gone because Rupert is no longer in a position to defend print (and if he did it would be the Wall Street Journal). Over at Fairfax it’s becoming clear that Corbett has got himself in a tight spot. You can expect that pretty soon he will be shooting the scapegoats.
One of the more poignant contributions on this subject is today’s little lecture from Trevor Kennedy on Fairfax board duties and governance. Sublime.
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@ Ex-MSN… not sure it’s appropriate to gloat over 400 job cuts. Also, sad day for journalism in this country if it’s true. Regardless of your viewpoint, good journalism keeps politicians honest, crooks off the street and can force real change for good. Reading about Kim Kardashian’s arse on news.com is none of these things.
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Newsprint is dead
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“This is Claire. We have another 2,796 journalists just like her.”
So reads the leader board at the top of Mumbrella …
By my calculation that will still leave 2,396 Claires’ after the axe falls.
Surely that’s enough Claires for any one media company.
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Business diversification…?
Freelance or crowd-sourced journos…?
Do either of the organisations have a business strategy team…?
I mean, you didn’t really need a crystal ball to see this eventuating.
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AFR reporting Gina Reinhart has just purchased more of Fairfax — now holds 13% — and wants Roger Corbett’s head on a pole. This could be a lot of fun to watch. Are the windows at The Age and SMH sealed shut? They had better be, because the mood among the inmates will be suicidal.
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reff, I’m not sure whether you meant to be amusing or just plain nasty because that’s how you get your kicks (anonymously of course), but I find it low and sad that you would talk about real people, suicide and how fun it would all be to watch. Hope you continue to enjoy your day.
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@ Offal Spokesperson …says who?
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Have to change it to Sydney Weekly Herald
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I’m with Jacqui Lunn. There’s no call for gloating – it’s a bit sad and immature. Also with JB: we need journalists to pound the shoe leather and ask the questions the rest of the community needs asking. That there’s not enough of this going on any more is not down to the individual journalists. And boy will you miss them once they are gone.
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Sad thing is, ABC just rolls on, not needing any ratings or sales. Hugely over-funded, while the ‘real’ media slowly goes down the tube.
Lucky the ABC ain’t bias…pffttt….
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I have to second JB’s comments. It’s a sad day for journalism in this country.
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Ex-MSM you are talking absolute rubbish. Journos figured out years ago how to use that thing called the interweb. I am sure you are straight out of uni and bitter because you can’t get a media job. I dont blame you, times are tough. Go back to uni and study something else while you’re still young.
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Jacqueline, it really comes as no surprise to find a dour, humourless soul working for Fairfax, where you contribute “light-hearted columns” to the SMH. You must find that rather taxing.
It should be obvious that I was speaking metaphorically. If Fairfax journalists were to jump they might hit bicyclists, and that would be a double tragedy for all concerned — not least for the paper’s many global warming correspondents, who would be obliged to pen a few more in-depth, interminable and unreadable essays about the latest setback in the fight against CO2. Golly, they would be so depressed only the thought of next year’s Earth Hour might lift their little green spirits. The editors would commit it all to print, of course, because there really are no true editors left on the premises.
Seriously, as one journo to another, don’t you think a little humour, a touch of irreverence every so often, might lift the SMH just a tad? If I want scolding I’ll visit my mother-in-law, I don’t need to be paying Fairfax for the daily and dubious boon of being lectured by self-proclaimed moral betters.
As for anonymity, I’m no more anonymous that most commenters on this thread. And you never know, do you? It could be that I am sitting just a few desks behind you, biting my tongue and praying for someone — yes, even Rinehart — to save the company from flushing itself down the toilet in a deluge of business-side incompetence, editorial folly and smug self-righteousness. When it comes to paying the mortgage, an odious employer beats an inept one every time.
Since you are an advocate of open identity, feel free to spell out what Corbett & Co should do to arrest Fairfax’s imminent disintegration and the ways in which Amanda Wilson might regain some of her many lost readers and advertisers. What was that last audit? That’s right, a 13% circulation decline! If you don’t laugh at that, you just have to cry.
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@Charlotte et al
Trying working with the luddites, it’s embarrassing for all. And don’t worry about the ones who lose their jobs, they’re off to earn twice the money in PR or Comms. Newsroom experience is highly valued in every industry bar news…
Don’t get angry at me. Get angry at the people in charge who spent a decade hating and fighting the internet, followed by a sudden dash to get on board. Too little, way too late.
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@reff I haven’t worked for the SMH for four or so years now so I doubt very much you are sitting behind me at my dining table where I am trying to write my second novel. It takes a decent person to accept when they have said the wrong thing, and we have all said the wrong thing at one time or another.
I don’t see humour in your comments, I see sadness and nastiness and I still have no idea who you are. Obviously, you can use google and know who I am and what an insightful piece of writing to put me down in your first paragraph because I wrote “light hearted columns” for the SMH. Because, of course, what should be published is rehearsed nastiness from anonymous commenters.
I think it is a sad time for a lot of good people, good journalists. And it has been that way for a while. That’s what this is about.
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Another example of job losses and public misfortune for greed – “weekend editions are profitable, while daily papers are less so”. There is no harm in just making money, why does it have to be obscene profits at any cost.
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I am sad about today’s news.
And Reff, much as I agree that a bit of lightheartedness goes a long way, I feel duty-bound to pick you up over your singling out of the SMH and Fairfax. I’d argue the reverse; that there’s far too much light-hearted infotainment and not enough strong reporting in its strictest sense.
All our broadsheets (including The Australian) are equally guilty of running turgid pieces, whether their writers be “global warming” correspondents or climate change deniers or the bevy of well remunerated self-serving columnists who get paid by not one, but two or three “employers” to run a particular line.
We still have a lot of very fine journalists in this country.
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An observation would conclude that both News and Fairfax have fantastic journo’s in house and awesome sales staff, coupled with very talented digital minds concerning UX and online product development etc
A second observation would be that as they sail along and begin to really make an impression, the old minds / ego’s / the power restrict their growth and success; rather like a speedy fast boat planing along, however towing an anchor. The p&l has to add up and it cant!!
Good luck to all staff concerned if any are made redundant. Bureaucracy seems to be stifling these old skool publishers. Plus of course the amazing choice out there online, which is niche, passionate and totally on the money. I guess the big boys are being eaten on the inside and outside?
The questions is can they survive and if so how will they?
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The question is: Can they survive and if so how will they?
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As an analyst of media and editorial, it has to be said that newspapers are sacrificing their editorial integrity for the sake of advertising spend with these moves. Yes they can potentially reach higher audiences with ads, if we believe the figures being bandied about, but with this we are losing audience for individual news stories, some of which will never see the light of day online, as online news removes the need for editorial discretion. We can now publish all stories we want, without editors making informed choices on the most interesting/relevant content. Yes we can say editors have lost touch, but does removing them completely help the situation? How does a small fledgling news story now gain momentum if it is drowned out by the other 3000 stories published on that site that day? Only a few appear on the front page. How many stories are people online actually reading compared to in print? Endemic of the online generation’s attention span, one would have to surmise that very few. They flit about like moths to the next highest’ranking story flame. Online news creates a few ‘super’ stories and thousands of also-rans. If there was more editorial discretion, and transparency around reallreader rates of articles, we could start to talk about the merits. As it is the online dollar and the idea of reaching wider advertising audiences at the expense of news is the king here.
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What is a digital native and how would they solve the problem of paying the bills?
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I’m one of the people being laid off and i’m disappopinted someone would be making fun of that, go
get a sense of humanity whoever you are, i cant see any point in outsourcing australian media jobs to new zealand, that is just pure betrayal, not smart business
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Not enough SMH print copies this long weekend. What they don’t print they wont sell. How many years have they been having long weekends? And they still haven’t worked out how many print copies to distribute? Unbelievable!
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