Nine has announced a new round of cuts, with up to 85 jobs being eliminated across the Sydney Morning Herald, the AFR, The Age, Brisbane Times, and WAtoday.
The cuts have come from across the publication’s newsrooms, print operations and, audience and commercial growth divisions. B&T understands that not all redundancies have been voluntary.
“As foreshadowed in June, we have been working with our people in reshaping the Publishing business to ensure a sustainable future in response to the challenging advertising market and collapse of the Meta deal,” a spokesperson for Nine said in a statement provided to B&T. “We have now concluded this process, with around 85 people from our newsrooms, print operations and audience and commercial growth divisions regrettably leaving the business over coming months”.
“We will be providing support for all employees transitioning from the business. Every one of these people depart with our gratitude and appreciation for their contributions to Nine’s world-class masthead”.
The Sydney Morning Herald senior journalist and former gossip columnist Andrew Hornery is among the journalists who have successfully applied for voluntary redundancy. In a post to Instagram yesterday, he confirmed that “the financial opportunity proved irresistible” and that he would finish up at the end of the month after 29 years with the publication. “I will always love the Herald; it’s been a wonderful privilege to have been a part of its enduring legacy, and I look at my tenure with great pride and satisfaction,” he wrote.
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“I believe the time is right for me to venture into the great unknown. Writing and storytelling are in my DNA; no one knows this town better than me, and there are a couple of projects I intend to finally focus on (I just landed my first major commission, but more on that later) … but for the immediate future I’m taking some well earned, self-imposed gardening leave. It’s time to cherish the most valuable commodity of all: time”.
B&T understands that a number of the payouts are particularly costly. A legacy payout package means four weeks’ pay for every year of service, with some employees notching up almost four decades.
The deadline for applications for voluntary redundancy at Nine Newspapers closed last Friday, with the company expected to inform successful applicants this Friday. The applications were believed to have been oversubscribed, but among the names bandied about are illustrator and cartoonist John Shakespeare, commercial property editor Carolyn Cummins, Title Deeds editor Lucy Macken and features writer Helen Pitt, who returned to the fold some years ago.
Some of the bigger payouts range from $300,000 to $500,000, with the employees having more than a century of combined experience in their roles.
The Woes Of Nine
In June, the media giant announced that 200 jobs would be cut – equating to about 4 per cent of its workforce – with the publishing division bearing the brunt of the cuts. Nine CEO Mike Sneesby told staff at the time that although the business was in a stronger position than its rivals, the economic downturn and lost revenue from Meta’s content deal elapsing had meant the business needed to find millions in savings.
“Nine is not immune to the economic headwinds which are impacting many businesses globally. In order for us to be able to keep investing in digital growth opportunities across Nine, we must continue to responsibly manage costs through the cycle,” Sneesby said.
“Last financial year, we were able to improve the efficiency of our operations, but in light of recent market events, we are reviewing key parts of our business to identify further potential savings.
“Today, we will announce measures in our Publishing business to offset the loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market. Unfortunately, this will result in some of our colleagues leaving us in the coming months. It is not something we want to do but it is something we need to do to continue to build on a successful platform of high-quality journalism and digital subscription growth”.
“We are also in the process of identifying further savings, including in our Digital and Broadcast businesses. An operational review of these businesses is underway, and we will update you with further details about what this means for you and your teams in the coming weeks”.
A week later, Members of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) a vote of no confidence in Sneesby passed unanimously. A statement from union members expressed their dismay that many senior editors have been kept aware of the job cuts despite the end of Meta funding being public for months. “We demand an explanation from the company about why the publishing division appears to have been disproportionately targeted for job losses, given the recent strong financial performance by the mastheads in a particularly difficult time for all print outlets and given the fact that the Meta money was spent across the company, rather than just on the mastheads”.
“As a result, staff across The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, WAtoday and the Brisbane Times have today unanimously passed a motion of no confidence in Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby and the Nine Entertainment Company board,” the unionists said.
Earlier this year, widespread misconduct within the entertainment company was exposed, with a number of staff coming forward with allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.
In reports published by The Sydney Morning Herald and other publications, former news and current affairs boss Darren Wick was been accused of drunken and lecherous behaviour during his 13-year tenure running Nine’s news and current affairs team. Staff were quoted referring to Wick’s alleged conduct as an “open secret” within the network that lasted more than a decade. Three separate women have reported that Wick “brazenly groped them in public view of their colleagues.”
One woman told the The Sydney Morning Herald earlier this month how, as a young reporter, a ratings party at a city pub had taken a sour turn. “At one point in the night, in full view of everyone, he started feeling my arse,” she said.
As the night went on, she bore witness to Wick doing the same to other women. “It was obviously utterly shocking to me, but he was my boss with a huge amount of power”.
Her shock at Wick’s alleged actions was amplified as the incidents occurred in a room full of staff. “He was not hiding it. Like everyone could see it,” she told the SMH.
“To think you’re hired for what you can bring in terms of skills and experience”, said one of the alleged victims “You’re just a piece of arse for him,” she added.
Sneesby subsequently announced an independent review of the company’s television news and current affairs department and set up a dedicated hotline for staff and former staff to report mistreatment. The review is ongoing.
“We will commission an independent review of the behaviours and concentration of power that has damaged the trust and fairness within our television newsrooms,” Sneesby wrote in an email to staff at the time, seen by B&T. “It will be handled by an external firm and provide findings and advice on how we behave and how we can implement better systems and processes for the future”.
