Ex-Fairfax journalists criticise redundancies and cost-cuttings at AGM
Two ex-Fairfax journalists have taken the publishing company’s board to task at the Fairfax annual general meeting over its handling of redundancies and increasing editorial mistakes as a result of cost-cutting.
Founding editor of The Weekly Review, Eileen Berry, criticised the Fairfax board, including chairman Nick Falloon and CEO Greg Hywood, for the handling of 16 redundancies at The Weekly Review last month.
While Berry acknowledged the necessity of redundancies, she told the board “on behalf of every Fairfax journalist” that her former colleagues “weren’t treated with the due respect that should have been given.”
It’s remarkable that Hywood thinks it appropriate to ignore concerns about the treatment of staff. Equally remarkable that he thinks it ok to say poor quality is a trade off.
What does this guy get paid for? He trumpets Domain as if it is some kind of future in a non print world. Yet in today’s results digital revenue is up 11% but the total revenue is up a mere 2%. Domain clearly is not at all a digital business.
Enough already. Dump this jerk.
The rot in the Age began with Michael Gawenda’s forced departure as editor which was followed by a number of senior journalists moving over to The Australian. The paper continued to lose good journalists to other media outlets`as “head-kickers” with no substantial writing background of their own took over. There are still some fine journalists left but the shrinking newspaper is sadly no longer the daily “must read” and beacon of quality journalist and news breaking stories that its once was.
Hi there,
Hywood and the others like him are most likley be on Rupert “s pay roll . ??
I read the CEO presentation by Hywood and was disgusted. He has the gall to claim that the publishing is part of his plan. That is, the news media.
Anyone who reads any of the main fairfax titles knows they are gutted, badly directed and ultimately shoddy. Fairfax built its business on premium values.
Hywood is the garbo of CEOs. not Greta.
We all know that classified profits made Fairfax very comfortable. Also that they’re now gone, along with the bulk of display ads.
What fairfax needs is a strong commercial focus built on great news and related content. But this CEO talks about being a knee jerk 24:7 sort of wire service (which in evidence is lots of soft porn and tease). He’s on the wrong tram. In fact he seems to not know at all what people care about in terms of news.
Fairfax needs to wake up before it dies in its sleep.