Management shake-up at Fairfax

John Fairfax Holdings has announced a major shake-up of its senior management that will see the creation of powerful new commercial and editorial division.

As a consequence of the changes, the positions currently held by Greg Hywood, the editor-in-chief of The Age, and Nigel Dews, the managing director commercial and publisher of the f2 network, are not retained in the new structure.

Mark Scott will become editor-in-chief of Metropolitan Newspapers, a post that will see him assume editorial responsibility for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, The Age and The Sunday Age.

Scott will report directly to the Fairfax CEO Fred Hilmer who said that the editors of the Herald and Age newspapers would assume greater editorial responsibility over their publications.

Alan Revell, currently the editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald will take over the newly-expanded role of commercial director. The new division will have responsibility for all advertising sales in the Herald and The Age as well as Fairfax's magazines, marketing, promotions and subscriptions management.

An announcement issued to staff by Hilmer said that as a consequence of the management changes, Greg Hywood would leave his post as editor-in-chief of The Age in Melbourne. He will be replaced by the current editor, Michael Gawenda, who will have greater responsibility for editorial direction at the paper.

"I leave the company with regret after 27 years," Hywood said in a statement. "I am proud to have presided over the three major mastheads at Fairfax - The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the AFR [The Australian Financial Review] - and contributed to significant improvements in each."

Hilmer said Nigel Dews was supportive of the changes and would remain on staff to assist with the transition for the next few months.

Robert Whitehead and Phil McLean will continue as editors of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun-Herald.

Hilmer said that following fundamental reviews of editorial, advertising, and marketing and circulation functions "we implemented a number of organisational changes to help drive the business forward as our major capital investments - Tullamarine and the upgrade at Chullora - were being completed".

"These changes have provided a sharper focus on the competitive opportunities ahead, and have strengthened our capabilities in selling, marketing and commercial strategy," Hilmer said.

Hilmer's announcement said one of the main objectives of the exercise was to "continue improving editorial quality while steadily reducing costs".

"Maintaining distinctive products with their own identity and voice in each of our markets is central to our competitive advantage and the quality of our broadsheets," the announcement said. "However, at the same time, we face an ongoing challenge of maintaining high-quality editorial content in the most effective and efficient way."