‘A blow to quality local journalism’: MEAA blasts ACM’s editorial job cuts

BY Rosie Drew

September 5, 2024 7:26

‘A blow to quality local journalism’: MEAA blasts ACM’s editorial job cuts

The trade union that represents the media industry has called Australian Community Media’s decision to cut 35 jobs across 11 newsrooms “a blow to quality local journalism”.

On Wednesday, it was revealed the community newspaper network will reportedly open up voluntary redundancies across The Newcastle Herald, Illawarra Mercury, and The Canberra Times.

Managing director Tony Kendall confirmed the redundancies in a town hall meeting on Wednesday, attributing the cuts to the “loss of federal government advertising revenue and the loss of payments from Meta” and “reduced revenue from display and classifieds advertising and print circulation”.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) acting media director Michelle Rae said previous federal government efforts to support regional journalism have been insufficient or poorly targeted and, as a result, newsroom closures and job losses have continued unabated.

“The government must take action to support the further erosion of regional media, including providing funding that will directly support the employment of local journalists to provide genuinely local news to serve their communities,” Rae said.

Rae added that regional newspapers have been the heartbeat of their communities for decades, providing local news that big national and metropolitan outlets can’t, or won’t, provide.

“They have also provided quality local jobs for thousands of journalists, photographers, production staff, designers, and more,” she added.

“This trend, which started with the relaxation of media ownership laws and has been accelerated by the actions of social media giant Meta, seriously threatens the important role that journalism plays in a democracy: keeping the public informed and holding powerful institutions accountable.”

All redundancies will be finalised by the end of September.

Mumbrella has reached out to ACM for comment.