MPs attack centralised newspaper sub-editing plan
By Leah McBride Mensching, Wednesday 2 July 2008 at 18:01 :: General :: #1866 :: rss
Two MPs have attacked Fairfax Media's plans to centralise part of its New Zealand newspaper sub-editing into hubs that would edit world, features and business pages, saying the move will devalue regional coverage, The Dominion Post reported Wednesday.
The hubs would be in Wellington and Christchurch, and would create as many as 40 redundancies, according to Fairfax's announcement Monday. Fairfax publishes The Dominion Post.
Jim Anderton, New Zealand's Progressive Party leader, said the consolidation would hurt community newspapers, hindering their abilities to cover local news, people and culture, The Dominion Post reported.
“It's ironic that the withdrawal of media from New Zealand's regions is a serious issue for the affected communities, but there is almost no chance of the issues getting a fair hearing in local media,” Anderton said, according to The Dominion Post.
Meanwhile, Sue Bradford, Green Party Social Services spokeswoman, said she is disappointed in Fairfax for following the sub-editing consolidation trend.
“Not only is this proposal bad for workers, who will be asked to reapply for their jobs in a different city, but it hurts our local communities who rely on local news for their communities' strength and well-being,” said Bradford, according to The Dominion Post.
Paul Thompson, executive editor at Fairfax, said Bradford and Anderton are mistaken, adding that each newspaper's editors and sub-editors will continue to be responsible for local news and sports sections.
“This is not a proposal where everything will be centralised in the main centres and, in fact, some of the hub staff who are going to be working right across the group may indeed be based in some of our regional centres,” he said, according to The Dominion Post.
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