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Editors cut at Mercury
The media union says News Limited has been moving sub-editing jobs in Hobart interstate by stealth.
The media union says News Limited has been moving sub-editing jobs in Hobart interstate by stealth.
The union is planning to re-ignite a public campaign to keep the jobs in Tasmania, saying The Mercury’s editor promised to abandon plans to shift sub-editing to a new editing hub in Melbourne in May.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance state president Mark Thomas says instead, shifts appear to have been moved to Adelaide.
“Sixteen subbing shifts a week have been moved to Adelaide,” he said.
Mr Thomas says morale at the paper is at an all time low.
“Mercury staff have also pointed out that a range of major local content within the newspaper has been lost.
“Patsy Crawford, who’s written a column for the last two decades in the state, has been dropped from the newspaper.
“The section called ‘Attitude’, the recipe pages, have been lost to the newspaper.
“The Mercury has achieved its sub-hub by stealth.
“The quality of the newspaper is being affected because somebody in Adelaide doesn’t have the connection to the stories, or the same understanding of the stories that are being written for the newspaper.
“If you’re Tasmanian, you know that Bagdad is spelled B-A-G-D-A-D,” he said.
“Anybody else in Australia might try to insert the H.
“It’s about local knowledge.”
The Mercury’s editor has rejected claims he has reneged on a promise not to send sub-editor jobs interstate.
Garry Bailey says he is offended by the suggestion.
On Tasmanian Times:
• The Fly’s definitive history of the gutting of a newspaper
• Public disdain for journalism has never been greater