Up to 500 journalists made redundant in 2013

May 2, 2014 6:06

The union representing journalists has said a vast amount of experience has been lost from newsrooms, with an estimated 500 jobs cut last year by publishers.

In its annual report into the State of Press Freedom in Australia the MEAA says print publishers were responsible for the majority of redundancies as they “continue to struggle in the wake of the enormous changes taking place due to the digital transformation.”

According to the report News Corp Australia shed around 65 reporting staff, while Fairfax Media cut 50 from the metro dailies, plus another 13 full-time from the financial and business reporting group.

There were also about 75 redundancies at AAP with 50 coming from subediting hub Pagemasters as a result of the “offshoring” of Fairfax sub-editing to New Zealand, while a further 25 came from AAP newsrooms.

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Nic Christensen

Nic Christensen worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2016, in roles including deputy editor and media & technology editor. He is former media writer for The Australian and has also worked as a reporter for The Daily Telegraph and senior producer for Radio 2GB.

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2 COMMENTS

JB 3 May 14

Not to mention all the ones that have been culled from the magazine industry too.

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WB 5 May 14

Second that JB. Seems like it’s up to the public though as to what level of journalism and credibility they expect from their outlets. Cadets quoting Twitter feeds seems to be all it takes.

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