ANDREW JASPAN has been sacked as editor-in-chief of Fairfax Media's Melbourne flagship, The Age, a day after the company announced 550 job cuts.
In a statement to staff still reeling from yesterday's announcement, management said: "The company has decided that for this next critical stage of The Age we would have fresh editorial and executive leadership.”
"I wish to report that Andrew Jaspan will no longer be Editor In Chief," the head of the company's Victorian operations, Don Churchill, said.
Jaspan signed off to his troops a short time ago with an email entitled That's All Folks!
He told staff: "I will come and bid my adieu on the floor at 12noon. "
Yesterday it emerged Antony Catalano, who was the sales and marketing director of The Age, had left the company as it attempts to cut 5 per cent of its workforce.
The moves are in response to a tightening advertising market and pressure on newspaper classifieds.
Mr Churchill’s announcement follows the revelation by Fairfax’s head of Australian newspapers, Brian McCarthy yesterday that he was taking stock of Fairfax’s Melbourne newspaper operations.
“There will be reviews of operating, production and support processes in all areas, including editorial, to ensure optimal employment of staff and technology, and including outsourcing of elements that will not impact our quality position,” he said. “As a result of this program, a number of positions will likely be declared redundant.”
Mr Churchill had given a cryptic clue that changes may have been afoot at The Age when announcing the mass redundancies yesterday, saying “you would have noticed that the metropolitan mastheads’ financial position had declined”.
But Mr Churchill has moved today to defend Jaspan’s record.
“Andrew has been a highly successful editor,” he said. “He has our thanks and appreciation for all he has achieved in the past four years.”
He added that the company was "discussing with Andrew the ways his skills and expertise can be made available within the company".
Paul Ramadge will be acting editor-in-chief.
- Additional reporting: Samantha Maiden and Lara Sinclair
