New Zealand papers to outsource sub-editing

Apr 19, 2007, 10:51 GMT

Wellington - APN News and Media, publishers of the New Zealand Herald, the country's biggest-selling daily and several other newspapers and magazines, confirmed Thursday that it will outsource sub-editing to an Australian company with the loss of about 70 jobs.

Christopher Warren, president of the International Federation of Journalists, which represents more than half a million journalists worldwide, condemned the move, saying, 'This has never been tried anywhere on this scale and as a potential model for other outlets it represents a threat not only to New Zealand's news but to news around the world.'

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents nearly 5,000 print and media workers in New Zealand, said it was considering legal action to try to block APN's action.

APN's New Zealand chief executive Martin Simons said that work on the Herald and three other dailies, the Wanganui Chronicle, Hawke's Bay Today and the Bay of Plenty Times, would be contracted to Pagemasters which will set up a team in Auckland, Radio New Zealand reported.

He said it would allow APN newspapers to run more efficiently, but the EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said 'assembly-line sub-editing' would compromise the quality and accuracy of news coverage in the country.

The announcement came following Television New Zealand's move to cut 59 jobs in its news and current affairs department. Little said both organisations were putting profit margins ahead of quality news, especially in provincial regions.

Apart from newspapers, APN owns half New Zealand's commercial radio stations.

Irish newspaper magnate Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Independent News and Media (INM) owns 42 per cent of APN, with two Australian investment companies, Perpetual Investments and Maple-Brown Abbott, owning another 23 per cent between them.

INM is heading a consortium with Providence Equity Partners and Carylyle Group to take over APN and run it as a private company.