Fairfax staff have warned management that they are prepared to escalate industrial action if the company does not consult them adequately in relation to yet another proposed restructure.
Fairfax announced on Wednesday it would start consulting on its plan to cut $30 million from the editorial budget — the equivalent of about 200 jobs.
In yesterday’s resolution, staff condemned job cuts and a push in any ideological direction, and asked for more detail about what proportion of the $30 million savings would come from more job losses. Fairfax has said the figure includes non-staff costs, but it has not indicated how much, or which non-staff costs would be targeted.
“[Cuts] will inevitably affect the high quality, fearless journalism we have produced at Fairfax for more than 150 years,” the staff resolution said. “We reject any ideological direction. We report the facts fairly and accurately without fear or favour.
“Staff feel the company is preparing to consult with us while holding a $30 million gun to our heads.”
Cuts will be made to the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today and Brisbane Times.
In the five-page memo sent to staff on Wednesday, Fairfax outlined focus areas for editorial coverage, saying it would rely on syndicated content and contributors for content in areas including entertainment and arts. It indicated the mastheads would prioritise stories that would be widely consumed.
The memo signalled a push of a “pro-investor, pro-consumer view of business”, which staff have objected to.
“We believe in the merits of market-based solutions to economic challenges and an Australia that rewards aspiration and hard work. We want to be at the political centre of the rigorous debate over how best to achieve these important objectives,” the memo said.
Staff have given management until Monday to respond to their requests.
“Staff will not engage in any consultation without this information, and will consider escalating our response,” they said in their resolution. — Emily Watkins
Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote from Fairfax’s memo to the staff resolution.
It sounds as if Fairfax is more interested in entertaining their readers than producing good journalism and reporting important stories and information, that the reading public should have. The best of luck to the Staff and their negotiations. We need vibrant and informed journalism , not ‘Days of our Lives’ stories!!!
Elephant in the room – Fairfax papers are doomed. Just putting it out there. Rather than pestering management, who are probably running out of a valium and good whiskey, better to start working on the resume. I hear there is lots of money in deep learning… maybe give that a try.
Here’s the problem: I’m a lifelong reader of the SMH (literally learnt to read it on my mother’s knee). My Fairfax sub gives me access to brilliant cartoonists, some excellent investigative journalists (especially McClymont + Ferguson) and perceptive columnists (Martin Flanagan, Ross Gittins, Jessica Irvine, Annabel Crabb and Waleed Aly). But increasingly I get my news from the Guardian and the New York Times. Too often any quality international news on the Fairfax sites comes from elsewhere. The Guardian and Crikey beat them hands down on most Australian political content.
My Fairfax digital sub is over 7 times more expensive than my New York Times sub and over half of it is lifestyle dross. If the quality of content continues to fall, at what point do I say goodbye to the few remaining journalists and cartoonists and sever connections with what was once a great newspaper?
Hold on for as long as you can, Jmendelssohn! They are literally the only media outlet in Australia still exposing corruption in local, state and fed politics, as well as in business. And yes they are still breaking these kinds of stories regularly. We’d be in big trouble without them; or if they stopped pursuing this stuff.
I’m partly in Jmendelssohn’s, partly Northy’s, and partly Aussie4real’s corner on this. And only today I had this same discussion with a very good mate complaining how SMH online had gone too tabloid. As I said to him, you don’t have to click on the clickbait, click on the true news and investigative articles, and the commentators you trust. But I do think the Trump (Howard/Abbott/Turnbull) era of “fake news” and “alternative facts” has given once respected and reputable news outlets like Fairfax a possibility of a new lease on life. It is up to Fairfax et al what they do with it.
The Sydney Morning Telegraph