Fairfax plans community news restructure

Fairfax Media New Zealand is planning to restructure its community newsrooms in a move that would result in 12 job losses.

Spokeswoman Emma Carter said the changes would involve streamlining the way Fairfax, the publisher of the Southland Times, produced its community newspapers.

Affected staff were being consulted on the changes.

Carter said community newsrooms would be led by newly-appointed news directors who would be champions for their local community and drive digital content onto ‘‘hyper local’’ social media platform Neighbourly, in which Fairfax owns a 45 per cent stake.

Fairfax expected that would result in more Fairfax content being posted to Neighbourly, she said.

‘‘Our commitment to hyper-local journalism will remain but the way readers will access that will continue to evolve,’’ Carter said.

‘‘We have a dominant player in Neighbourly as seen by the massive increase in membership in a short time. We need to grow that asset.’’

Fairfax Media announced in February that it was planning to transfer subediting work for its Australian metropolitan mastheads from Fairfax New Zealand to contractor Pagemasters, with the possible loss of 70 jobs.

A spokesman said that move would result in ‘‘additional flexibility and savings’’.

Fairfax also produces Stuff, The Sunday-Star Times, The Press and The Dominion Post.

Stuff’s monthly online audience passed 2 million in March, according to independent research published by Nielsen last week.