Fairfax Media to base editorial power in Sydney

The new editor-in-chief of The Age is likely to report to a Sydney-based editorial director.

Fairfax Media publisher Sean Aylmer.

The new editor-in-chief of The Age is likely to report to a Sydney-based editorial director, adding fuel to concerns in Victoria that Fairfax’s restructure will see more editorial control ceded to Sydney.

Despite senior sources suggesting the new editor-in-chief of The Age must have “Melbourne blood”, the Melbourne editor-in-chief is expected to be one of eight chiefs based in Sydney reporting to the editorial director.

Fairfax Media publisher Sean Aylmer told ABC radio “the structure we announced yesterday doesn’t change anything” ­although the proposed structure shows the role of the editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has been diminished, reporting to three separate managers, including the editor-in-chief.

The power in the new Fairfax Media editorial management structure has moved to ­production managers, with the flat organisational structure placing the editors-in-chief of the two major newspapers on the same level as bosses for “digital channels”, “print channels”, presentation, video, and the national managing editor.

National “topic editors”, who will commission journalists in Melbourne and Sydney in areas including sports, federal, world and national breaking news, are likely to be based in Sydney, ­although they report to the editors-in-chief of both papers. The proposed changes to the management structure were outlined in meetings with staff on Thursday after the resignation of The Age’s editor-in-chief, Andrew Holden.

Sunday Age editor Mark Forbes has moved into the role of acting editor-in-chief for The Age and SMH editor-in-chief Darren Goodsir, who is a regular visitor to Fairfax House in Melbourne, is anticipated to take the top job as editorial director overseeing the group.

Bruce Guthrie, a former editor of The Age, said the changes represented a greater concentration of editorial resources in Sydney at the expense of Melbourne and were “another step along the road to the demise of the papers’’.

“It did read to me as if more and more editorial power is going to be concentrated in Sydney,’’ Mr Guthrie said.

Also among the department chiefs reporting to the editorial ­director of the group is the “head of entertainment & lifestyle”, ­perhaps confirming fears expressed on ABC talkback radio that the editorial content of the Fairfax titles in Sydney and ­Melbourne has become lighter.

The structure gives some meaning to the sudden departure of Holden, who was viewed as a strong, and increasingly lonely, voice for journalists within the company.

Mr Aylmer, in an interview with ABC radio, denied Holden was sacked, saying he and Holden “agreed together he would move on”. Mr Aylmer also denied Fairfax planned to close the print ­editions of The Age or SMH.