Ex-age Editor Decries 'chilling' Job Cuts
The Age
Tuesday October 7, 2008
A FORMER editor-in-chief of The Age, Michael Gawenda, has criticised the newspaper's management for its "slash and burn" response to declining advertising revenues and described as "chilling" cuts to editorial staff.
In a lecture to be delivered tonight at Melbourne University, Gawenda says the decision by Fairfax Media, owner of The Age, to cut between 45 and 55 editorial staff was a "failure of imagination".Gawenda said that when this had been tried elsewhere, it had "led to even more rapid declines in circulation and readership and ultimately profitability".He acknowledged that newspapers were facing challenges as online media became more popular."But for real change, courage is needed and vision and risk-taking and above all, a commitment to newspapers and journalism that, frankly, I do not see at the moment."Gawenda, who edited The Age between 1997 and 2004, also criticised the online editions of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, describing them as popular, celebrity-focussed and "trashing" the editorial identity of their print counterparts.Answering the question whether newspapers have a future, Gawenda said they could if they had "smaller circulations and fewer readers, a premium cover price, no lifestyle sections and no special circulation deals, which basically involve giving the paper away".The Age's editor-in-chief, Paul Ramadge, last night described Gawenda's speech as "unnecessarily alarmist"."My reaction is that Michael is being provocative rather than deeply reflective and analytical," he said."Michael was a thoughtful editor-in-chief of The Age, focused on words and quality and journalistic excellence. The Age and its dedicated staff continue to represent these values."What happened in Michael's tenure is happening now. We are debating ideas. We are debating ways to improve the paper. We are debating how our readers' lives are changing and the most appropriate ways to respond. Good journalism, as Michael knows, comes out of such debates."Responding to the suggestion that lifestyle sections should move online, Ramadge said award-winning sections such as Epicure, Green Guide, EG and A2 were extremely popular and financially successful. "They are the envy of other papers."
© 2008 The Age