Sydney Morning Herald editor Lisa Davies resigns after five years in the role
The editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Lisa Davies, has resigned after five years in the role and will step down immediately.
Davies did not reveal her plans, telling staff only that “the time feels right for me to look towards what’s next” and handing her editing tasks to her deputy Cosima Marriner from Tuesday.
The resignation leaves both the Herald and the Sun Herald without an editor, following Marriner’s move from editing the sister paper to deputy editor of the Sydney Morning Herald a fortnight ago. Both positions will be advertised.
“It has been an immense privilege to lead this newsroom, which is full of talented and passionate individuals wholly committed to delivering news our readers can trust – day in, day out,” Davies said.
“The last two years in particular have tested us all in ways we couldn’t have imagined so as things return to a more even keel, the time feels right for me to look towards what’s next. I’m going spend the next month finishing up a few projects.”
The sudden resignation of Davies from the helm of the Herald has surprised and saddened staff who say she is a “straight shooter” and a good manager of people.
Davies, and her equivalent at the Age, Gay Alcorn, have two layers of management above them and little control over the national editorial agenda under the editorial structure.
Davies and Alcorn report to Tory Maguire, who was promoted in July to executive editor of the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, WAtoday and Brisbane Times, by Nine managing director of publishing James Chessell.
Maguire, whose new role was not advertised, joined the Fairfax/Nine group after Fairfax Media’s joint venture with the Huffington Post came to an end in 2017.
Davies led the celebration of the Sydney Morning Herald’s 190th anniversary this year and drove the paper’s coverage of Indigenous affairs, including securing a partnership with the Judith Neilson Institute to hire more Indigenous storytellers.
“Five years ago there were conversations about whether the print products would still be around in five years,” Davies told industry publication Mumbrella on the paper’s 190th anniversary. “They are, and they are still huge revenue drivers. I think it’s a really encouraging sign. I can’t see a time when there won’t be a print product.”
Maguire paid tribute to Davies as
someone who has “put her heart and soul” into the masthead.
“Over her five years as editor she led her team through the major disruption of the restructure, held the newsroom together during the biggest challenges of the pandemic, and was a crucial part of the huge team effort to ensure the long term success of the Sydney Morning Herald,” Maguire said.