News Limited boss to staff: Hold tight for management shakeup
News Limited boss Kim Williams has told staff to expect an announcement on a major organisational shakeup in about a fortnight’s time.
This morning he sent an all-staff email after reports – including from the company’s own The Australian – that the announcement would be as soon as today. The move is expected to include hundreds of job losses.
The memo:
Many will have read recent, inaccurate reports about an announcement by me being made today as to changes in the company. Those reports are misinformed and speculative, based on nothing other than rumour.
As I have indicated previously I have been working with my Executive colleagues in shaping a reformed approach to the management of the company to ensure we continue as a leader in Australian media delivery.
As with all such announcements it is important that the settings are right, the planning comprehensive and the communications open and direct to everyone in the company.
I undertake that when the plan is complete and ready for delivery I will be informing our own people first. I will be doing so as helpfully and openly as possible.
I expect that announcement will be ready in two or so weeks’ time and look forward to outlining the plans then.
No doubt there will continue to be speculative comment but I would encourage everyone to hold tight and wait until you here directly from me and my colleagues.
With all my very best wishes,
Kim
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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In light of the Fairfax cuts and these rumoured cuts, it appears the major media outlets are going from bad to worse – which I expect will only result in a further decline in resources for high quality journalism, continuing the downward spiral.
For high quality journalism to survive, we are going to need a viable alternative to the major media outlets as the primary source of funding. Independent online media is attempting to fill the void, but suffers from a lot of fragmentation and lack of revenue.
I’m the founder of http://www.delibnow.com — a truly democratic and transparent news platform, that aims to address these problems and create a viable revenue stream for quality journalism. Anyone interested in learning more can get in touch via twitter: @delibnow
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The Australian: “Misinformed and speculative, based on nothing other than rumour”.
Now, finally, there’s a piece of good brand positioning work. Nice job Kim.
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Hmmm. The first reports were in the Oz.
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“I would encourage everyone to hold tight and wait until you here directly from me and my colleagues.” Leading authority in jounalism? Oh dear.
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@Chris delibnow just asks for an email address, there is nothing there.
Why not spam after you have a viable product..
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@DD: Apologies if you feel my comment was spam. Consultation is an important element of ensuring we have a viable product that ensures Journalists get the recognition they deserve while the public gets the product they want. This is an important problem to solve (as highlighted by this article) to ensure we have access to high quality news that enhances our democratic processes.
As my post and our website highlights, you can join the discussion on twitter or via our blog.
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@Tango…jounalism?? oh dear, oh dear
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Pete. Tou-bloody-che.Gutted!
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@Tango…not a criticism just an observation
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@ Chris – jeez if that’s the kind of long-winded sentence structure we can expect from your new news platform I might stick to the conventional forms.
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@ Chris – so where will you be finding your version of “the news”? Will it be from the left, the right, somewhere in the middle, the young, the old, the mad, the bad, the angry, the bewildered? You have to remember that news – that is real news, the stuff that has to be dug out, not tricked up in press releases or by spin doctors – is rarely broken on the internet, almost never in this country. News is not opinion and observation which is all over the internet, being provided by anyone who wakes up in the morning and thinks they have something to say that the rest of the world is eager to hear – which in 95 per cent of cases it isn’t. News is still provided by the big media companies with the staff, expertise and clout to get out and report it. More often than not, these big players have their own biases but if you’ve been around long enough you learn to read between the lines. Anyway,this post is probably part of that 95 per cent that will be ignored … so have a go and good luck, you’ll need it.
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Not a good signal for kids doing journalism at Uni
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Kim Williams cannot spell, “Hear” as in listen is spelt -Hear, not here.
No doubt there will continue to be speculative comment but I would encourage everyone to hold tight and wait until you here directly from me and my colleagues.
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