Fairfax Media plans to axe staff from regional newspapers and websites MARK DUNN HERALD SUN MARCH 11, 2015 6:18PM EIGHTY editorial, administration and sales staff — including 62 journalists — face the sack from Fairfax Media’s regional newspapers and online publications. Fairfax announced the proposal for sweeping job cuts across its regional papers and websites, including key brands The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga, The Courier in Ballarat, Bendigo Advertiser and The Standard in Warrnambool. The full-time job cuts follow major redundancies at Fairfax in recent years and will require remaining journalists to write and sub-edit their work. Staff at the effected newsrooms were briefed by management about the proposed changes yesterday. Industry union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said it was “appalled at the savage loss of jobs” for reporters, subeditors and photographers and the quality of those publications would suffer. “The scale of the cuts will be devastating for the rural mastheads and the communities they serve,” MEAA incoming chief executive Paul Murphy said. “When you lose journalists in rural and regional Australia, quality journalism is undermined. “Local voices, local issues, local news — all these are lost. Media organisations offer up homogenised filler where there is less local and therefore less relevant news.’’ Fairfax’s local newspaper division, Australian Community Media, has been hard hit in recent times, with revenues down 7.4 per cent and earnings before tax and interest down 31.4 per cent in its 2015 interim result. ACM director John Angilley said the company’s 13 Victorian mastheads would remain but be subjected to planned efficiency changes. .