Name: News Corp to cut jobs in restructure towards digital-only community and regional newspapers - ABC News
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News Corp to cut jobs in restructure towards digital-only community and regional newspapers - ABC News

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News Corp to cut jobs in restructure towards digital-only community and regional newspapersShareNews Corp has announced a massive shakeup of its publishing businesses, moving almost all its community and regional newspaper titles to a digital-only format.More than 100 mastheads will become totally digital publications, and 13 papers will merge with other titles in the News Corp brand.Today's announcement is the latest in a string of newsroom closures across the country and follows Buzzfeed shutting down its Australian operations and Network 10's decision to close its website 10Daily.The media giant said there would "regretfully" be job losses associated with the announcement, but the exact number remains unclear."We're not talking to numbers, we're talking about people and we're having those conversations today and tomorrow, so I'm not going to prejudice those conversations, we're going to talk to them individually," News Corp Australia's executive chairman Michael Miller said.He said the decision was a long-time coming but that staff had provided "invaluable" years of service."I said in April that we were passing a tipping point of the impact of migration of digital advertising from print," Mr Miller said. "We were also passing a tipping point in terms of the number of Australians that are willing to pay for content online."Mr Miller said as someone who grew up in regional Australia he understood how important local papers were, but the regional news habits were also moving to the digital space."That gives us confidence we won't let them down," he said.News Corp said more than 375 journalists would continue to work solely for the company's regional and community titles, with the changes effective from June 29."These initiatives are significant," Mr Miller said.The COVID-19 pandemic had already forced News Corp to suspend physical printing of some of its newspapers, with the crisis taking a sledgehammer to advertising revenue.Some 16 community and regional papers are already online, with News Corp now planning to publish a total of 92 papers in the same way.The Mackay Daily Mercury, the company's Messenger newspapers in Adelaide, and Melbourne Leader titles are among those to move to digital-only services.The Hobart Mercury and NT News are among the regional papers that will still be printed.A small number of regional titles will cease publication both in print and online, with coverage of these communities feeding into the digital masthead covering the wider area.The union representing media workers was still trying to figure out just how many staff would lose their jobs, but said it thought it could be up to 150 people."We are determined to see proper consultation and fair treatment for any affected staff," MEAA chief executive Paul Murphy said.Mr Murphy said the blow came at a time when people across the country were turning to their local media outlets for up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic."It's a demonstration of the seriousness of the crisis that we're facing," he said."The closure of so many mastheads represents an immense blow to local communities and, coming off the back of hundreds of previous regional closures during this period, it underlines the seriousness of the crisis facing regional and local journalism."Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said it was a "very difficult day for the journalists and other staff and the local communities involved"."News Corp has expressed its commitment to maintain the bulk of its regional and community titles online, and the Government is very interested to see that News Corp delivers on that promise to continue to serve local communities with news and information," he said in a statement.Shadow Employment Minister Brendan O'Connor said the decision would have a substantial impact on regional media."It's a terrible blow for all of the staff, all of the journalists and other staff of News Corp that will be losing their jobs," he said."The impact on regional Australia is going to be pretty acute."It's not good for the role of media, it's not good for regional employment, it's devastating for the professions that are within the media."Michelle Landry, Nationals MP for the electorate of Capricornia which includes Rockhampton, said she heard seven jobs would go at the local newspaper The Morning Bulletin."That's devastating, that's nearly half the team that's going," she said.27 May 202027 May 2020Wed 27 May 2020 at 11:05pm, 28 May 202028 May 2020Thu 28 May 2020 at 6:27amMore on:

News Corp to cut jobs in restructure towards digital-only community and regional newspapersShareNews Corp has announced a massive shakeup of its publishing businesses, moving almost all its community and regional newspaper titles to a digital-only format.More than 100 mastheads will become totally digital publications, and 13 papers will merge with other titles in the News Corp brand.Today's announcement is the latest in a string of newsroom closures across the country and follows Buzzfeed shutting down its Australian operations and Network 10's decision to close its website 10Daily.The...

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News Corp to cut jobs in restructure towards digital-only community and regional newspapers - ABC News

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