The 'war of words' between rival media companies Fairfax and News Limited is bad for business, former News Limited chief executive John Hartigan has warned.
Yesterday, Fairfax's The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) ran an article covering the rumours of 400 impending retrenchments of News Ltd staff, mostly in the editorial department.
“Not to be outdone, the opposition newspaper thought they'd get in on the act, too,” Hartigan said last night in a speech at Sydney's Macleay College.
News Ltd's The Australian reported Fairfax's board had discussed the possibility of axing weekday print editions of the SMH and The Age.
“This is pretty strong stuff to be running,” Hartigan said. “But it's a thought-starter.”
News Ltd and Fairfax mastheads have dedicated coverage to the goings-on at the offices of 'the competition' recently, with The Australian reporting on Fairfax Board stoushes and continuing developments over pay-TV piracy claims made by the Australian Financial Review. The SMH, meanwhile, has covered Rupert Murdoch's phone-hacking scandals and News Corporation's share price and profit results.
But Hartigan warned the back-and-forth between the media giants has far-reaching consequences for the media industry as a whole.
“Even if they're only rumours, these stories have an impact, particularly on employment opportunities in the media sector.”
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