About 25 Illawarra jobs will be lost under a Fairfax Media proposal to shift editorial production at the Illawarra Mercury and its associated weekly community titles to New Zealand.
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After a detailed review of workflows and business requirements, Fairfax Media yesterday afternoon announced a proposal to relocate editorial production functions for the Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong Advertiser, Lake Times and Kiama Independent to Fairfax Editorial Services (FES) in New Zealand.
FES has a proven track record of excellence and reliability. It currently produces nine dailies, two Sunday papers and 67 community papers.
Under the proposal, 20 FTE staff, comprising 20 full-time and part-time positions and five casual positions, would no longer be required across the group of affected Illawarra titles.
No reporting or photographic positions would be affected and the Illawarra Mercury would continue to operate the largest newsroom in the region.
A similar proposal was announced today for the Newcastle Herald and its associated weekly titles. Fairfax Media’s Metro Media division made changes to its editorial production arrangements last year.
Fairfax Regional Media chief executive and publisher Allan Browne said the proposal reflected a key aspect of the company program to focus on growing audiences and building revenue through content creation and advertising sales.
“Our industry is in a period of immense transition and we need to be willing to do things differently in our businesses,” Mr Browne said.
“Our newsrooms need to be in the best position possible to efficiently provide content across platforms, whether it is in print, web, mobile or in other media.
“To do that, we have to optimise our operations. We believe that will ensure our publishing and media businesses remain the news sources of choice in the communities they serve.”
The Illawarra Mercury website is the third highest-ranked website in the Fairfax Regional Digital Media network of 160 websites, recording 1.3 million page impressions in April. The national network records about 25 million page impressions per month.
Management is consulting with affected employees and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance about the proposed changes.
