Fairfax to centralise newspaper production

Fairfax is taking a leaf out of APN’s book with the announcement it will centralise some of its newspaper production.

It means sub-editors based in two main centres – Wellington and Christchurch – will sub, lay out and produce pages for the Features, World and Business sections of its nine daily newspapers. Generic non-news pages such as TV and Weather will be standardised across the titles.

Here’s a few excerpts from the press release on Scoop:

Fairfax Media Group Executive Editor Paul Thompson said the autonomy and individuality of the company’s newspapers would not be affected, and editors would remain in control of everything printed in their newspapers.

The subbing and layout of local and sports pages will remain the responsibility of editors and sub-editors within each masthead.

The move follows the near-completion of installing the Atex Genera editorial production system across all Fairfax Media newspapers, a process started about two years ago.

Fairfax would also be looking to have more generic non-news pages such as TV and the weather undertaken by providers for the whole group.

“Such tasks are time-consuming and often monotonous, and it makes sense to have such tasks performed at one place,” Mr Thompson said.

“The most important aspect of this proposal is that control of all pages is retained at local sites, overseen by editors.

“This initiative is part of the ongoing process of shaping our newspaper operations to continue to compete effectively in a future environment facing ever-increasing competition from online news and information sites.”