Cox steps up at Sun-Herald as Feneley moves to writing role
Kate Cox has become the struggling Sun-Herald’s third editor in three years as part of Fairfax Metro’s widespread restructure of its NSW operation.
Cox has become editor of the Sunday tabloid after it recorded some of the biggest percentage circulation drops in Australian newspaper history since relaunching in March.
Editor Rick Feneley will become “senior writer across all platforms” after about 18 months at the helm. He replaced Simon Delhunty, who led the Sun-Herald’s previous relaunch.
Cox’s promotion comes less than a year after being appointed to edit Sunday Life.
Both News Limited and Fairfax have moved to restructure their staff with single editorial teams across weekday and weekend newspapers and across both print and online. News has labelled its position “one city one newsroom”.
The Fairfax appointments are the latest since the departure of the Sydney Morning Herald’s publisher and editor Peter Fray and Amanda Wilson.
Sean Aylmer, editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald, said in a statement: “The team we are putting in place to take the Herald’s new editorial structure forward is a superb group of some of Australia’s most talented and experienced editors and journalists. They will all make an enormous contribution to the success of the Herald’s delivery of the best quality news reporting, commentary and analysis demanded by our audiences.”
The new lineup:
- Sydney Morning Herald Mon-Fri Editor – Richard Woolveridge (formerly online news editor )
- Sydney Morning Herald Mon-Fri Deputy Editor – Heath Gilmore (formerly chief of staff Fairfax media)
- Sydney Morning Herald Saturday Editor – Judith Whelan (held same role)
- Sun-Herald Editor – Kate Cox (editor of Sunday Life)
- smh.com.au Editor Conal Hanna (formerly managing editor brisbanetimes.com.au)
- Tablet Editor – Stephen Hutcheon (incumbent)
News Directors
- Deputy News Director (day) – Tom Allard
- Deputy News Director (AM) Liam Phillips (formerly breaking news editor, SMH)
- Deputy News Director (PM) Tom Reilly
National Topic Editors
- Entertainment – Monique Farmer
- Society Adam Morton
- Life – Sue Bennett
- Foreign – Connie Levett
- Business – Mark Hawthorne
- Food and Wine – Lisa Hudson
- Travel – Lauren Quaintance
- Drive – Toby Hagon
- Managing Editor (National) – Mark Baker
Local Topic Editors
- State – Sherrill Nixon
- Investigations / Feature Writers – Anne Davies
- Community – Kathryn Wicks
- Sport – Ian Fuge
- Justice – Lisa Davies
- Domain – Stephen Nicolls
- Social Media – Georgia Waters
Update: In Melbourne, The Age’s editor-in-chief Andrew Holden made the following staff announcement:
From: Andrew Holden
Sent: Wednesday, 22 August 2012 5:08 PM
To: Age Editorial-DL; Age Designers-DL; Age Photographers-DL; Age Artists-DL
Subject: Appointments
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your time in the newsroom this afternoon, and for sharing with our new leaders an important moment in their careers.
To those who couldn’t make it, I am delighted to announce the new editorial leadership team for The Age. They represent an outstanding combination of experience, skills and passion, and will ensure that this masthead embraces the opportunities of our digital world.
Thank you to everyone for your patience over the past four weeks. It has been a significant challenge to interview so many applicants, consider how the team will operate across three cities, and then make 32 appointments. Your dedication to The Age has made it possible for us to achieve this in such a short period.
Your leadership team is:
- News Director – Steve Foley
- Mon-Fri Print Editor – Mark Fuller
- Saturday Age Editor – Margie Easterbrook
- Sunday Age Editor – Mark Forbes
- Online Editor – Daniel Sankey*
- Tablet Editor – David Dick*
- AM Deputy News Director – Craig Dixon
- PM Deputy News Director – Dan Silkstone
- Weekend Deputy News Director – Melissa Singer
- State Editor – Michelle Griffin
- Justice Editor – Dan Oakes
- Social Media Editor – Angus Holland
- Investigations/Features Editor – Graham Reilly
- Community Editor – Paul Austin
- Weekend Features Editor – Mary-Anne Toy
- Sports Editor- Alex Lavelle*
- Images Editor & Edit Operations Manager – Viki Lascaris*
- Video Editor – Andrew Webster
Bit sloppy not to include relevant Age appointments in this item?
News Director – Steve Foley
Mon-Fri Print Editor – Mark Fuller
Saturday Age Editor – Margie Easterbrook
Sunday Age Editor – Mark Forbes
Online Editor – Daniel Sankey*
Tablet Editor – David Dick*
AM Deputy News Director – Craig Dixon
PM Deputy News Director – Dan Silkstone
Weekend Deputy News Director – Melissa Singer
State Editor – Michelle Griffin
Justice Editor – Dan Oakes
Social Media Editor – Angus Holland
Investigations/Features Editor – Graham Reilly
Community Editor – Paul Austin
Weekend Features Editor – Mary-Anne Toy
Sports Editor- Alex Lavelle*
Images Editor & Edit Operations Manager – Viki Lascaris*
Video Editor – Andrew Webster
*Incumbent
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Sydneybrella strikes again. If it didn’t happen in the Harbour City it didn’t happen.
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Hi Bill Posters,
This particular story was about the Sydney announcement. We have approached Fairfax for information about its Melbourne changes.
To your wider point, you may have missed the announcement from last month on Robin Hicks’ appointment as Melbourne editor. https://mumbrella.com.au/mumbrella-to-open-melbourne-operation-headed-by-robin-hicks-107783
He makes the move in a few days time.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Indeed I did, glad to hear it, looking forward to seeing a bunch more Melbourne stuff.
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You mean The Sun-Herald is still publishing?
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Mike v has apparently taken a redundancy package.
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