Fairfax journalists take their campaign to Federal Parliament
Veteran Budget analysts and writers from the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age –journalists the public rely on to cut through the spin for the real story – will be missing from the Federal Budget press pack this year.
More than 60 journalists from both mastheads will travel to Canberra today to join their Press Gallery colleagues outside Parliament House on the eve of the Federal Budget.
The gathering will highlight the loss to readers and public interest journalism of trusted, independent voices pivotal to the national discussion and to our democracy. Fairfax management seems deaf to these concerns.
Journalists at Fairfax mastheads walked off the job for seven days last Wednesday, with the full knowledge that would take them out of action for Budget night, following the appalling decision by management to slash the number of editorial staff at the Age and SMH by 125 journalists – a reduction of close to 25%.
Condemnation of the cuts has come from all sectors – from both sides of politics to the arts, prominent sporting personalities to the not-for-profit sector, with journalists here and around the world applauding the action taken by their Fairfax colleagues to defend quality, independent journalism and those who produce the stories that matter.
More than 6000 members of the public have written to Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood condemning the company’s company’s continued slashing of editorial jobs while it refuses to stem the decline by sharing the pain at the top.
Fairfax journalists take their campaign to Federal Parliament
Last update: May 8, 2017
