The AAP closure feels different to other redundancy rounds, and will affect us in a different way
The decision to close Australian Associated Press (AAP) will have long-lasting ripple effects, as Telum’s David Skapinker explains. And this closure, and these redundancies, feel different and bigger.
The news that AAP is closing has been felt like a body blow not just to those immediately impacted by the business’ closure, but by the wider media ecosystem. The ramifications are going to be felt for years to come, and are not yet fully understood.
AAP has formed an integral part of the media environment for decades, for both the journalism industry, and for those communicating with Australians.
The commercial decision to close an operation employing hundreds of people will have been just that: commercial. The business model has changed. Copy can be lifted and shifted without attribution or payment. Newsrooms around the country are increasingly stretched to pay for reporting resources, even more so when the information can be found with a Google search.
AAP is more than a news wire service … it is virtually an essential service for Australians. The ramifications of this dreadful decision will be felt far, wide and for a long time. We should be very. very concerned as the “dumbing down” of our media continues. The major shareholders, News and Nine, should be ashamed of this decision. Their priorities are warped … News paid more than $350,000 a year to the right-wing academic Judith Sloan for a column and then a redundancy to the same casual employee of $200,000 but cannot see the value in keeping an institution like AAP going. Pathetic.
I read this twice. Not one mention of the human cost that these redundancies have or having on AAP staff – and aren’t these guys in competition to AAP? – bit rich to be dancing on their grave so quickly i would have thought
So you missed this part twice: “There is nothing good about this many journalists facing redundancy. Nothing. AAP staff have been told there will be employment opportunities in the shareholder newsrooms (Nine, News Corp, The West Australian and Australian Community Media). So there is that silver lining. But will all 180+ editorial staff find roles in these media houses? Unlikely.”
From the outset, this is clearly not dancing on a grave:
“The news that AAP is closing has been felt like a body blow not just to those immediately impacted by the business’ closure, but by the wider media ecosystem. The ramifications are going to be felt for years to come, and are not yet fully understood.”
The structural effect is fundamental. AAP was the base in covering courts, Parliaments, committees of Parliament and many other bits. The big former newspapers rely on its to flag important stuff and cover basics. TV news is all cats up trees without AAP and radio news nonexistent.
We are, with the death of AAP and the celebrity mindset of the former Fairfax papers, headed toward a NEWS CORP idea of news. That is, bullying and cynicism.
The bits have been falling off for years and the watershed was when Hawke and Keating did deals with Murdoch and Packer. That is, they deliberately killed the old Melbourne Herald group and shafted the former Fairfax. (Who helped with a family fight)
When Keating complains about News Corp, you should just piss on him.