A plate of media redundancy schadenfreude, but whose fault is the bitter aftertaste?
While SBS is being criticised for a satirical piece on the News Corp redundancies, Nic Christensen argues the industry needs to come together and end the blinkered point scoring.
In my darker moments (usually right after the latest round of redundancies have been announced) it sometimes feels like that my job as a media writer is to chart the decline of journalism in this country.
Don’t get me wrong I take no pleasure from that, in part because I also know how it feels to lose your job – it’s just over three years ago since I cleared out my desk at News Corp’s HQ at Holt Street.
In the last 24 hours the journalism profession has mourned news of more redundancies.
Author’s point is valid. Upset News Ltd staff should also consider how they have been working for a company with a long history of trying to get everyone at the ABC and SBS sacked. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but it might stop peeps getting too carried away in their anger.
Sorry but satire is satire. You don’t get to pick & choose when & how it’s directed at you. The timing of this piece is perfect – it only makes sense if it’s published at the time of redundancies.
Just wait. The goons forever calling for the ABC to be shut down, privatised and whatever other word they choose as a synonym for ‘destroyed’ will use this to heap further scorn on the ABC.
It is worth remembering that working journos from News Corp are, in general, not those deciding the editorial line or writing the leaders.
While (rather pathetic) satire, the SBS piece was quite nasty and lacked the compassion we should feel for anyone losing their job (not just journos).
Peter Ryan:
Well might the journalists at News cry: “I was just following orders” re their racist editorials.
As an excuse, it remains pretty poor. You accept the wages of working at News. You accept the reputation it gives you.
Didn’t see everyone at News having a cry when Sharri Markson was crowing over ABC & SBS job cuts. They have made their own bed when it comes to this issue and the business model. I won’t be having sympathy pangs while watching them lie in it.
It’s all good. Dad reckons they are just getting rid of the communists.
Uncle Rupert is apparently working on some sort of outsourcing deal with the IPA so they can manage the editorial in the Australian. The IPA think they will do a better job and Uncle Rupert agrees.
When I told mum that I found it ironic that with all their right wing rhetoric about how to run Australia they seem unable to run their own business she got mad at me.
And then sent me to bed with a lump of coal.
Which is far better than the lump of asbestos she gave me when I told her that she cant fight journalists with lawyers. Or the rest of the family with lawyers.
Lovechild my dad said the market is the perfect mechanism for sorting all this stuff out. I said yeah but what about the people? He mumbled something about social justice and equality being an illusion or myth much like Santa Clause! Mum chimed in and said something like don’t delude yourself about the people there has to be structural adjustment and innovation, which she said News Corp has in spades. Looks like I’m on the way to losing all my illusions.
I agree Ken.
We at News Ltd are Agile, Innovative and Disruptive.
This internet thing is just a fad. As the great Senator Alston once said to us true believers “Broadband is just so kids can play video games and download porn”.
The fad will go away when all the kids have to work 22 hours a day to pay the mortgage on their shoebox. Leaving them no time for this internet boondoggle.
Actually I only came across this peice while reading the Guardian and it might be worthwhile to read the comments there if you work in the industry (I don’t). Although there might be some left wing bias there Journalists at News Corp might note that a large proportion of the general public probably have no sympathy whatsover. A redundancy is a luxury many can’t look forward to and they quite rightly place the blame on the right wing media and the politicians that media have helped elect. When those that throw stones and work with those who throw stones suddenly find themselves living in the free market glasshouse they advocated for the rest of us they get no sympathy.
What is unfortunately missed when reporting on the demise of media is the hundreds of other (non-journo) jobs that are also being slashed left and right. It is terrible to see 55 journalists lose their jobs at News Ltd but I would like to also know how many others also lost their jobs this week. I know of a few at least that got the tap on the shoulder this week from both News and Fairfax.
know people over the decades who have been really badly injured and “shamed” by Newscorpse.
Cry me a river – many of those journos have metaphorical “blood on their hands” – they’ve been taking the $$$$ to do the bidding of a very nasty organisation.
They can dish it out – but cry like sooks when a insy bit comes back their way.
schadenfreude. karma. yep.
Lovechild Mum says you’re right about this internetty thing. She says the Telegraph think it’s a fad, and don’t even understand how to fit full-size pages of Nazis, Jihadists and the photos of 198 Soccer hoodlums all on their itsy-bitsy incy-winsy Webpage. She says no one wants to pay for that anyway.Dad said something about he didn’t want his meta ah meta data (the webpage thingy) revealing to Big Brother that he read the Telegraph. My bad disruptive parents Lovechild.
A great irony in all this is that journos have discovered what its like when job security isnt what it was. Even so, the payouts under their ebas are massive compared to any other industry.