Fair Go Fairfax!
The hottest topic about the media for the past week has been the Fairfax job cuts. As a journalist, I feel what Philip Meyer, author of the Vanishing Newspaper, says that newspapers are in decline to the loss of advertising and the spread of news online. It’s now applicable in Australia.
On August 26, Fairfax announced it would cut 5 per cent (550 employees) of its full time workforce under a new business improvement program to save $50 million in costs.
The announcement was sent through email by Fairfax chief excutive, David Kirk and deputy executive, Brian Mc Carthy to employees accross different titles in Australia and New Zealand without consultation of the Media, Entertainment, Arts and Alliance (MEAA), and outraging both MEAA and Fairfax journalists.
Journalists and general media say the implications of the Fairfax job cuts are negative for the industry and the audiences.
I think future journalists will spend more time in the office than in the streets observing through their own lenses, they will be forced to work harder that can result in less quality work, there will be more pressure to keep advertisers happy and less investigative journalism.
I see a newspapers crisis in the information age, however it’s the quality of the stories that can still fight today’s technological demands and consumer time constraints.
