APN begins outsourcing

APN began its handover of newspaper subbing to outside contractor PageMasters this week and expects to complete the process in around a month.

The contracting out means papers in APN’s stable, which includes the NZ Herald, the Listener and a range of provincial dailies, will now have their subediting done offsite from a factory in Ellerslie.

The move to outsource subediting to the Australian contractor was strongly criticised by the EPMU and journalists from around the country.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says the move is likely to further the decline of media coverage. “The relationship between the reporter and the subeditor is vital to getting the story right - putting them in different suburbs and in many cases different cities is going to make that much harder.”

“It’s not just the fact that subeditors will be physically removed from the newsroom that makes this a bad decision,” says Little, “but the fact they will be editing multiple papers and magazines and be expected to operate at peak capacity throughout their working day. When you’re talking about a job that requires a lot of focus and precision, non-stop peak work will almost certainly have an impact on quality.”

EPMU members from the Herald took protest action over the cuts at this year’s Qantas media awards and industry experts are voicing concern about the shift to outsourced subbing but it is expected other outlets will follow suit if it is proved to effectively cut costs.

On Tuesday APN announced an after-tax profit of $83.9 million for the half-year to June.