More than 100 jobs could go in Fairfax restructure

See also: Fairfax vague on restructure details

NBR understands staff at Fairfax Media New Zealand have been informed of a major organisational restructuring at two big meetings held today at 12.30 and 1.30pm, with possibly more than 100 jobs to be culled.

Those attending were told the restructure will involve one group of positions being axed and one group being "re-scoped".

The main roles to be disestablished are those of mid-to-senior editor managers.

The purpose, staff were told, is to “align the organisation with the modern newsroom.”

Fairfax’s Auckland newsroom will apparently be home to a chief news director, news director, reporters and visual journalists.

Among the roles being “re-scoped” is that of Sunday Star Times editor Jonathan Milne, whose publication was the winner of the Weekly Newspaper of the Year Award at last week’s Canon Media Awards.

New roles in Fairfax’s Sundays division will include a chief news director, news director and print producer.

The reorganisation will affect staff in the Fairfax group nationwide. How many of Fairfax’s current 700 journalists will lose their jobs as result is currently unclear, although there’s intense media speculation it may be as many as 115. Other reports suggest 160 staff will be asked to reapply for their jobs.

However, a source has told NBR that “subeditors are toast,” with the subediting group, Fairfax Editorial Services, being disestablished.

Other jobs are being pooled, or expanded to cover larger geographies. For example, DominionPost editor Bernadette Courtney is now editor-in-chief, central region.

In March this year, when asked by NBR whether Fairfax’s NZ subeditors were in line to lose their jobs, given cuts to the equivalent group by Fairfax in Australia, executive editor Sinead Boucher insisted that wasn’t on the cards, although she then went on to note, “we do want journalists to be able to produce work that can be published when it leaves their hands.”

A Fairfax source also noted a number of Fairfax staff demonstrated their enthusiasm for the announced changes by decamping to the pub immediately after the meetings.

Fairfax has sent out a media release putting the company’s point of view about the “newsroom transformation,” which “underpins a fundamental shift in the way its newsrooms are geared to serve its audience.”

According to Ms Boucher, “The proposal is not about reducing headcount.  We are boosting our reporting capability in small and large communities, and by streamlining our print-focused production processes, increasing the ratio of content creators from just over half to almost two thirds.”

The retooled organisation will be “digital-centric and built around audiences and content – not specific products or mastheads.”

That means “digital-first, socially driven newsrooms that are structured to produce quality journalism for different audiences and across platforms,” says Ms Boucher, who describes this as “an exciting structure geared towards building a dynamic, responsive newsroom.

“It’s an entirely different way of operating,” she says, “that puts our journalists even closer to the communities they cover.”

Those journalists left at Fairfax, in any case.