Today, Fairfax smothers its regional media cuts in a layer of Orwellian newspeak, the national indigenous broadcaster hits the road in SA, hair “doping” and the Tour de France, and more.

Fairfax smothers cuts in management-speak

Fairfax Media’s axe has finally fallen on its South Australian operations, with 35 positions to be made redundant, one newspaper axed, and others cut back.

The bad news has been anticipated by local staff for some time, but it didn’t ease the blow when they were told yesterday via a video-link.

It also didn’t help that Fairfax managers – despite being in the news business – seem to be enamoured of the most terrible management-speak.

They put out an Orwellian statement saying: “Fairfax Media has announced plans to restructure its regional operations in South Australia and revitalise its newspapers and websites across the state with a significant investment in new systems, training and equipment for journalists and sales staff.”

This “investment” will involve a new “digital-first publishing system” and “modernising newsrooms”.

Interstate, this has been code for slashing staff and making journalists take on more tasks – including sub-editing their own copy and taking their own photos, with photographers getting the boot. Expect the same to happen here.

Thirty-five positions will be cut across SA, including 22 full-time equivalent editorial positions.

The affected newspapers include the Stock Journal, the Port Lincoln Times, Whyalla News, The Transcontinental at Port Augusta, The Times at Victor Harbor, the Murray Valley Standard, Barossa and Light Herald, Northern Argus, The Recorder at Port Pirie, On the Coast, The Naracoorte Herald, The Islander, The Flinders News, Border Chronicle, Coastal Leader, Eyre Peninsula Tribune, West Coast Sentinel and the Roxby Downs Sun.

The freebie Roxby Downs Sun will be axed, and the Whyalla News will be published only on Thursdays, rather than twice weekly.

In more obscure management-ese, Fairfax says “the distribution of the free papers Barossa and Light Herald and The Flinders News will be adjusted”.

Fairfax’s commercial printing business in Bordertown will be shut down.

NITV news hits South Australia

The national indigenous TV station, NITV, will be broadcasting its nightly news from South Australia next week.

NITV, which comes under the banner of SBS, produces a nightly news service focusing on indigenous issues.

For NAIDOC Week – the national celebration of indigenous Australia – the NITV news team will be on the road in SA, including broadcasting live from Adelaide on Friday for the 5pm bulletin.

The news team will also broadcast from Coober Pedy and Marla, and it says it will be reporting on “the closure of South Australian Indigenous communities”, the nuclear royal commission and indigenous imprisonment rates in SA.

Shampoo dopes finally get it

Germany shampoo brand Alpecin has realised that its sponsorship of elite cycling and its tagline “Doping for your Hair” might not be the best fit.

Alpecin took over sponsorship of the German Giant-Shimano team this year, and it has decided to “suspend” the use of its rather bizarre tagline for the duration of the Tour de France.

The company sells what it describes as Germany’s “most successful shampoo for men”. The doping line refers to the fact that the shampoo is laced with caffeine.

This week, Alpecin decided to dump doping as a selling point for the coming Tour – even taking out an ad in The Advertiser.

“Although the successful caffeine formula will remain the same, we will change our claim and not use ‘doping’ during the next three weeks as the team strives for victory,” the ad says.

“This is part of our commitment to only support teams that are free from illegal performance enhancing drugs.”

Tagara bosses slag off media

The owners of collapsed South Australian business firm Tagara have refused to front the media since news of the firm’s liquidation became public.

You wouldn’t know it from the local coverage, but owners Tullio Tagliaferri and John Kassara say the primary reason they won’t talk to the media is because of “harassment” by local journalists.

They put out a statement yesterday about their “heart-breaking” decision to place the company in liquidation and had this to say about the fourth estate: “We elected not to speak with media at first because we were coping with the failure of a company we have built over more than 22 years and we were coming to terms with the awful prospect of bankruptcy. When certain media outlets harassed our family members, we decided not to speak with the media.”

It doesn’t seem unreasonable to report their concern, whether it’s fair or otherwise.

Naughty corner

The Australian continues to bore us all to pieces with its transparently commercial campaign against the ABC’s Q&A program.

Buzzfeed has hilariously lampooned The Oz’s obsession with Zaky Mallah’s appearance on Q&A last week, laying out the dour broadsheet’s coverage end to end (it spans 11 metres).

With Q&A having apologised, the executive producer having been chastised, and yet another inquiry about be launched, this lemon seems to have been sucked dry. However, given Rupert Murdoch’s long animosity to competition from public broadcasters both here and the UK, we can expect the tedious campaign to continue.

New Corp’s coverage has had some significant impacts – primarily, boosting Q&A’s ratings and raising Mallah’s national profile to new levels. Nice work.

Top of the class

Treasurer Joe Hockey this week “won” a famous defamation victory against Fairfax newspapers. The judgment in Hockey’s favour covered Tweets by the news organisation. While the result was widely covered – including concerns about its implications for freedom of the press – only one commentator analysed its full implications with incisive clarity. If you’re at all interested in press freedom and media law, this piece by former Media Watch host Richard Ackland is fascinating reading.

Media Week is published on Fridays.