Up to 70 photographers to be made redundant at News Corp
The Guardian has reported as many as 70 staff photographers from across News Corp mastheads have been told their positions are redundant as the company begins to adopt an outsourcing model.
Announced last month, this round of News Corp staff cuts is the company’s latest attempt to slash the costs associated with producing its printed newspapers, which now attract a fraction of the advertising revenue they once did. It appears to be more drastic than originally thought.
Last week managers started meeting individual photographers for a “skills assessment” for forced redundancies.
The old model of inhouse staff photographers is being retired for a “hybrid model, consisting of a core team of photographic specialists, complemented by freelance and agency talent”, the company said.
The newsrooms of the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, the Courier-Mail and the Adelaide Advertiser will now rely on agencies and freelancers for photographs as well as a small in-house team.
Sources told Guardian Australia that out of 20 photographers at Queensland Newspapers, only five will remain. Thirteen were forced to take redundancy and two took voluntary redundancy.
In New South Wales, a total of just 20 photographers will remain to work across all the local newspapers, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph. More than 25 will be made redundant. The Australian is expected to lose two photographers from its parliamentary bureau in Canberra. Up to 10 staff photographers in South Australia have lost their jobs.
A spokeswoman for News Corp said the redundancy program had begun but declined to confirm numbers.
News Corp photographers make a stand to save their jobs - don't cut them out of the picture! #MEAAmedia pic.twitter.com/ah4L1THeA8
— MEAA (@withMEAA) 9 May 2017
News Corp Australia, which posted a second-quarter loss of $287m in February, is expected to target production staff, including subeditors and designers, next.
The latest cuts are on top of a round in December that led to 42 journalists, artists and photographers being made redundant in an attempt to slash $40m from the media company