Rush to your letterbox or corner shop this week to grab one of Fairfax Community Network’s suburban weekly giveways produced in the eastern division. It’s good news.
Many of the division’s newspapers this week carry a blurb in large type on the front pages under a dinky little yellow logo reading “Good news edition”: “Good news! What does it mean? Does it exist? So why bother bringing you a good news edition when ‘good news’ papers have come and gone since printing press pioneer William Caxton was a lad? Why not? There are many community stories that are good news and if ever we were to produce a good news edition, Easter must be the time. We hope our stories brighten up your day. Write to [email addresses] and tell us what you think.”
The good news editions are the brainchild of FCN veteran editor Peter Simcock, who experienced bad news of his own last month when he was shifted sideways from his role as editor of FCN Victoria’s eastern division. The 30-year Fairfax journalist was replaced by 30-something American-born Erin Lewis, who has been headhunted from Star News Group’s Tullamarine head office, where she spent five years, rising to editor-in-chief. Star journos cheered wildly and punched the air when they heard she was leaving.
Lewis has been hired as a “lifestyle” editor and was introduced to FCN’s Dandenong HQ staff as someone who enjoyed baking, op shopping and craft. Her arrival signals an attempt by FCN to take its newspapers downmarket with less emphasis on hard news stories.
The shift in focus is behind the controversial sacking on March 11 of veteran Mornington Peninsula journo Keith Platt, who assumed the top editorial job at the Hastings-based Independent News Group when FCN bought it in June 2006. He replaced editor-in-chief Tony Murrell, who had shares in ING and retired.
Independent News Group had titles in Dandenong, Cranbourne, City of Kingston (Mentone to Chelsea), Frankston, Hastings and the Mornington Peninsula as well as the successful Holiday magazine. The acquisition also brought FCN 25% of a French-made printing press at Border Mail Printing, the printing division of Albury-based Border Morning Mail. Star News Group owned 25% and BMP 50%. Fairfax bought BMM and its printing division in May 2006 for $155 million.
The axing of Platt has caused great consternation among surviving staff as well as readers who knew him or his work. He had covered the wider south-east and peninsula region since the late 1960s and at Independent News Group earned a reputation as one of the best investigative reporters, a thorn in the side of politicians from all three levels of government, bad developers and assorted miscreants and headline makers.
No official explanation was given for Platt’s sacking, which had allowed staff and his supporters to speculate: was it because he resisted moves over the past three years to make the Independent papers look exactly like FCN’s Journal-branded papers? Did Mornington Peninsula powerbrokers blow in the ears of FCN senior executives about his revealing scoops? Does the phrase “not corporate enough” carry any meaning? Was it because he was decked out in tailored shorts and shirt and $300 leather boat shoes when the suits from Melbourne arrived to open the new Mornington office in February? (FCN had been paying premium rent on a converted factory on the outskirts of Hastings since it re-signed the lease established by ING about 20 years ago. The estate agent saw the FCN suits coming.)
Simcock has been sent down to Mornington to fill Platt’s chair and FCN faces an unfair dismissal claim from the latter.
Journos at the FCN Dandenong office were also wracked with great consternation over Simcock’s demotion. Some had happily worked with him for up to 30 years and have a sense of foreboding about the direction being taken under the stewardship of FCN general manager Colin Moss (a photographer “made good”), east division manager Ron Pittard (a Rural Press boy) and the new lifestyle editor Erin Lewis, a University of Missouri journalism graduate (2001) who spent a year as an exchange student at RMIT in 1997.
FCN taking its suburban giveways downmarket looks even more bizarre considering its great rival Leader, part of News Limited, has reversed its direction after two years of dumbing down its newspapers and losing buckets of advertising dollars.
Moss, of course, would be seeking lots of good news after the March 13 story by Marika Dobbin in The Age, FCN’s big brother, revealed eastern suburban estate agents and former Age property writer Antony Catalano have joined forces to start a rival to FCN’s Melbourne Weekly magazine. Fairfax has more than 30 mastheads in the burbs and adjacent bush regions and MW brings in at least 60% of total profit.
The as-yet-unnamed glossy could strip $5 million to $10 million out of Fairfax coffers each year. Bad news if you’re a Fairfax shareholder.
Wrong way. Go back.
Sad that the Fairfax lieutenants seem to think Mornington Peninsula readers – and advertisers – wouldn’t notice the direction shift that KP’s ousting marks. Do they think we don’t notice either the generic stock photos appearing in mastheads which were once proudly parochial? – the same mastheads they seem intent on turning into mere battery hens, content slapped together in town by those who don’t know their back beaches from their front beaches, mangroves from tea tree, a sea eagle from a wedge tail, a Couta boat from the Alma Doepel, cool climate pinot noir from a Rutherglen lip stainer.
Ask Simcock and his Dandenong subs to spell Cape Schanck, or give me the run down on assaults on Green Wedge planning by housing developments dressed up as golf courses over the past 15 years, or give me an understanding of the ‘deep water’ Western Port oil shipping myths and intricacies of over 30 years. Keith knows and lives this stuff – he can and did call bullshit on the ever increasing efforts of those working “in our interests” for a “better peninsula”. That’s what I want from a newspaper, local, state or national.
In a place where there are only two degrees of separation, Keith is well known and respected as a journalist passionate for the characters and the coasts of his peninsula – something which came through in his pages over many years. How long until I get FCN-wide gardening tips where once there were real questions being asked and answered about the spending of my rate dollar? How long until I see a sponsored umpteen newspaper deal ‘lifestyle story’ or Fairfax cross promotion shite where once there was the beaming smile of a local character, in a well-crafted read, rightly lauded in the community-binding spirit of journo, editor and independent, locally-owned and managed company.
Keith’s known as the sort of journo never merely to regurgitate a council press release (we remember when their spin department was beefed up around ’94 when three unelected commissioners were making decisions about selling our parks) or use four pars taken from the executive summary. He’d read the whole report. He’d ask questions. We could count on that. It was a worthy read, every week.
Peninsula readers – and advertisers – have made note. And they’re not happy.
I give Holiday magazine three more editions. The newspapers will also hurt within the year.
Local weekly or national daily – give me quality, or it’s compost.
– James Clark-Kennedy, (former Independent News Group journo/KP colleague 1993-2004) Red Hill