But they are sacking people whose role is made redundant by declining print sales.
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Yes, I know. I’m talking more in the future when FTA is even more dead and irrelevant and it’s not worth the money for all these presenters for each segment.
I wonder if the announcement was made ahead of the end of the financial year this Sunday.
Also it’s not a good look for Nine with the Paris Olympics opening ceremony just four weeks away. I think some of the affected staff would have been preparing to work for Nine’s multimedia coverage of the Games.
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To be fair, many of the british bulletins don’t have sports presenters, some dont have weather.
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And the prices they paid, regardless of perhaps needing to and any long-term positives that come out of them for the company, for the Olympics and Australian Open from 2024 and 2025 respectively. Like what are we talking, upwards of $1b combined?
Sneesby emphasised that Nine is better positioned than its competitors to withstand these pressures. Out of a workforce of nearly 5000, around 200 roles will be affected, including some vacant and casual positions.
Fiona Dear, Nine’s director of news and current affairs, also addressed the staff, revealing that 38 positions within her division would be cut, 12 of which are currently vacant.
Basically 26 staff being cut from news
Does it include presenters too.
NEC have just decided out of the blue to cut a couple of dozen staffers and cast them out into the already saturated media labour market courtesy of their brethren at Seven. NEC won’t even be able to get the retrenchees off the books by 30/6 with notice etc, so they can’t use padding the 23/24 books as a justification for the timing.
Anyone who was around during 1990 will remember this type of stuff - in fact many will have it burned into their mind (I do).
Conspiracy theorists will of course say it’s yet the latest chapter in the systematic dismantling of Australia’s media workforce. I think they are correct.
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It’s been a long-running Australian media industry meme that redundancies happen in waves.
Whenever Fairfax used to cull jobs, News Corp would follow a couple weeks later. Whenever Seven announced a downsizing, Nine would do the same soon after.
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The correct term for it is Synchronised Layoffs - management 7 & 9 would say it’s due to revenue downturns and Meta firing them, but it happens regularly and it has never been a one off.
When multiple employers unload staff at the same time, most of those people have to leave that occupation in order to secure another job - the timing is always more important than the actual numbers laid off. I can’t see how 9 will be able to even put the redundancy costs through the books this FY about to finish.
A similar example is the systematic dismantling of Australia’s telecommunications workforce - twenty years of rolling layoffs and it is now completely dependent on foreign workers being bought in.
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Learn to code time?
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Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance press release
Nine job cuts add to horror month for Australian journalism
Australia’s largest commercial media organisations must commit to quality journalism rather than look for easy savings by cutting editorial jobs, says the union for Australian journalists.
Today’s announcement by Nine Entertainment that it will make redundant 200 positions in its broadcast, print and digital divisions follows recent announcements of cuts at Seven West Media and News Corp.
These cuts, totalling hundreds of positions, diminish the organisations’ ability to fulfill their commitment to quality journalism, says the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance.
MEAA members at Nine Publishing, which owns the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday, this afternoon passed a motion of no confidence in managing director Mike Sneesby over the cuts, which have been announced in the midst of negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
They have authorised their union to immediately commence preparations for a protected action ballot.
MEAA Media Acting Director Michelle Rae said the union acknowledged the cuts were in part a result of Meta’s decision not to renew deals under the News Media Bargaining Code, but urged Nine, Seven and News Corp to look elsewhere for savings.
“Any cuts to editorial will mean reduced coverage of a range of matters and result in a less informed Australian public,” she said.
“They bring into question how committed Nine, Seven and News Corp are to quality, public interest journalism.
“We will do all we can to support our members during this difficult time and advocate for media organisations to protect journalism by looking for other options to make savings.
“That these cuts are partly the result of Meta walking away from funding deals under the News Media Bargaining Code makes them even harder to swallow.
“Meta rakes in billions of dollars off the back of news content produced by Australian journalism. The funding deals under the News Media Bargaining Code allowed Nine, Seven and News Corp to invest in journalism and increase coverage after years of decline.
“If Meta continues to refuse to negotiate new deals, then it must be designated by the federal government.”
Ms Rae said MEAA members at Nine Publishing were angry that redundancies had been announced during bargaining for a new EBA and that the mastheads had been disproportionately targeted for cuts.
“Nine management has not put a serious offer on the table,” she said.
“With the current agreement expiring on June 30, members will be voting on whether to take protected action at the earliest possible opportunity.”
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Bingo - EBA expiring explains the timing.
Nothing much ever changes in TV
Disgraced former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been welcomed into Western Australia’s Government House to receive a special honour from King Charles III, a year after a federal court judge concluded the ex-corporal had executed and brutalised Afghan prisoners and disgraced the nation’s military.
Roberts-Smith’s decision to attend Government House in person to receive a medal that King Charles has bestowed on all of Australia’s living Victoria Cross recipients, along with the move by the palace to recognise the ex-soldier, is likely to stir controversy given Justice Anthony Besanko’s damning judgment last June and the fact that Roberts-Smith remains the subject of multiple ongoing war crime investigations.
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The Weekend Australian is reporting Nine CEO Mike Sneesby is jetting off to Greece, amidst the company turmoil…
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Probably had approved/planned leave prior to heading to Paris to host sponsors of nines coverage.
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The report says that it is understood that Sneesby has taken a week of annual leave to attend the wedding of a family member in Greece.
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Mumbrella adds:
A Stan spokesperson confirmed to Mumbrella that “Stan was not included in Friday’s announcement (regarding NEC’s job cuts).” The streaming service has around 300 employees, according to Linkedin.
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300 employees for Stan? 
Sounds like some fat could be trimmed there if they’re looking at cost savings.
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