Wellington - APN News and Media, publishers of the New
Zealand Herald, the country's biggest-selling daily and several other
newspapers and magazines, confirmed Thursday that it will outsource
sub-editing to an Australian company with the loss of about 70 jobs.
Christopher Warren, president of the International Federation of
Journalists, which represents more than half a million journalists
worldwide, condemned the move, saying, 'This has never been tried
anywhere on this scale and as a potential model for other outlets it
represents a threat not only to New Zealand's news but to news around
the world.'
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which
represents nearly 5,000 print and media workers in New Zealand, said
it was considering legal action to try to block APN's action.
APN's New Zealand chief executive Martin Simons said that work on
the Herald and three other dailies, the Wanganui Chronicle, Hawke's
Bay Today and the Bay of Plenty Times, would be contracted to
Pagemasters which will set up a team in Auckland, Radio New Zealand
reported.
He said it would allow APN newspapers to run more efficiently, but
the EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said 'assembly-line
sub-editing' would compromise the quality and accuracy of news
coverage in the country.
The announcement came following Television New Zealand's move to
cut 59 jobs in its news and current affairs department. Little said
both organisations were putting profit margins ahead of quality news,
especially in provincial regions.
Apart from newspapers, APN owns half New Zealand's commercial
radio stations.
Irish newspaper magnate Sir Anthony O'Reilly's Independent News
and Media (INM) owns 42 per cent of APN, with two Australian
investment companies, Perpetual Investments and Maple-Brown Abbott,
owning another 23 per cent between them.
INM is heading a consortium with Providence Equity Partners and
Carylyle Group to take over APN and run it as a private company.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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