Fairfax Media continues to reduce staff, announcing it will cut 120 full-time jobs from news and business across newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Staff were informed of the cuts this morning via an internal email from Fairfax media editorial director, Sean Alymer.
The email says: “We will shortly enter a consultation period with staff and the MEAA on a proposal to reduce costs across news and business in the Sydney and Melbourne newsrooms by the equivalent of 120 full-time employees.
“We believe that we can do this through redundancies, tightening contributor budgets and reducing travel costs and expenses.”
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) believes the cuts amount to one-quarter of the editorial workforce.
AdNews understands the reductions are only an equivalent cost number, meaning it may be less than 120 staff that are let go.
Journalists have taken to Twitter to express their woes on the reduction, with #Fairfax now trending in Australia.
Sunday Age senior writer Jill Stark writes: “Worried for my own future and my colleagues, but this is also just a terrible day for journalist and media diversity in Australia.”
Another says: “Sharp cuts at #Fairfax a dark day for Aus journalism and media diversity. Taxpayer-funded ABC has been stealing their audience for years.”
The news of the job cuts follows the company’s restructure of its editorial team which saw The Age editor-in-chief, Andrew Holden, depart and a shift towards prioritising digital roles over print roles.
Fairfax has faced significant staff reductions across the board, with 71 positons cut last year from its community media division. Several staff were made redundant in October last year after the publisher restructured its consumer and trade marketing departments.
Last month, Fairfax Media announced plans to move production of its metro newspapers back to Pagemasters, a decision that could see 70 jobs axed.
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