Fairfax production offshoring goes ahead; talks with striking journos and unions collapse
Protests against Fairfax outsourcing plans
Fairfax is pushing ahead with plans to move scores of production jobs offshore, after talks with protesting journalists and the unions collapsed.
Fifty-six full-time production staff, spread over 61 full and part-time jobs, will move from Australia to New Zealand as part of Fairfax’s plan to strip out cost and transition from a print into a predominantly digital publisher.
The move will hit regional newspapers The Newcastle Herald and Illawarra Mercury hardest, with up to half of their editorial staff made redundant.
Dead company is dead.
When share-price hits 30c, equity sharks will move in and make some quick cash selling off the profitable assets.
Short of a complete Rinehart take-over and restructure as the “Why Mining Deserves No Taxation” Daily, mastheads will cease to exist. Even then, they will cease to be readable, bleeding revenue until La Magnate grows bored with her toy and throws it away.
Dead.
‘Dead’, you clearly don’t have a clue. To the strikers, it’s cheaper to move this function offshore. It will affect jobs in the regions but the jobs are still going to the same company, it’s not like they’re being outsourced to a company in India.
Sure @that’s life, the roles will stay with Fairfax but the roles will not stay in Australia. Is that a good thing? Dunno, but there are plenty of armchair Fairfax P&L analysts who have posted opinions on this and good luck to ’em. I neither agree nor disagree. However, irrespective of your views on the commercial rationale for the restructure, there is a human cost in all this and it’s 50 odd subbies with mouths to feed, getting boned in a tough regional market where there ain’t much else up there for ’em. That’s plain sad.
that’s life…clearly you’re the compassionate type as well…these people, at least some of them, have worked at Fairfax for many years, and to be pushed out like this is a disgrace…
By the way who says Greg Hywood is right with these decisions? Problem is Fairfax will be so far down the track that there won’t be any changing back, they’re fully committed..if it’s a mistake, they are buggered.
It’s not that I don’t feel for those involved, I’ve been there myself. It’s just a commercial reality of the position that Fairfax finds itself in that it has to save cash where it can. Better that than the whole company goes down the toilet costing thousands of jobs all over the country
“Better that than the whole company goes down the toilet…”
It already has.
A decade ago, innovation may have worked. Maybe. Instead Ruralpress tried to fight the internet as an enemy and only at the eleventh hour are the restructures taking place because nothing else is working.
Little else will work. The culture is wrong. Celebrity journalism is no match for investigative journalism. The websites are a cluttered mess, trying to be all things to all people. Ipad apps will not work. Paywalls will not work. Digital advertising strategies will not work.
Stripping the editorial functions down to the bone, then rebuilding with talent who understand the information age may work.. Maybe. But there is no vision to drive such a move. The equity sharks will destroy the company and salvage a few profitable pieces or Rinehart will destroy the company and turn it into Mining PR Inc.
Most jobs will go whatever happens.
If these mass produced mast-heads are the only papers in the region there is an alternative. The unemployed staff set up a competitive local mast-head with local journalists and editors working with local content to produce high quality journalism.
Let the market and community decide – if they value quality local journalism then vote with the wallets and let Fairfax and Co die a horrible death. I am sure in a city of over 400,000 there will some market for a small scale local publication (even if it is online initially).
If not then unfortunately those staff will need to find other ways of exploiting their talent
.
@ ExJourno_NorPR
Yes, a cruel and cold approach, but Yes. However, there is a better way already in place. The newspapers are a solid chunk of the cultural mainstream of this (or any) nation.
Journalism is an art form, one I gather you have turned away from, but many have not and are unable to do. Fairfax does not deserve to die a horrible death, but neither do the journalists who have contributed to its growth and development over many years.
“Thanks for the memories guys and girls, but the water is drying up and its time for us to move on”…..”Eh? Oh not us, we mean Us, you poor suckers can start your own newspaper”
I agree ExJourno_NowPR,
There is zero point in fighting a massive restructuring that is clearly going on, and will continue as Fairfax struggles to survive.
Think you can do a better job? Why not start up Newcastle online, where investment would be minimal.. you could start with a $30 WordPress theme and $50 hosting.
Or maybe there is no money in it?
That’s more likely. And to parse the the interview, these are often people who aren’t ready for the massive changes taking place in the news business.