Media News - Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Media watchdog warns of risks of centralised production

The print media's watchdog has sounded a warning about the industry's trend to cut costs by centralising production and sub-editing. The Press Council's latest annual report says reduced local oversight of newspapers 'would appear to inevitably bring an increased risk of simple factual errors being overlooked and of offending local sensitivities'. Last year APN New Zealand outsourced much of the sub-editing of its newspapers to a central hub in Auckland operated by Australian company Pagemasters. Last week New Zealand's other big print group, Fairfax Media, announced it was forming 'national centres of expertise' in Wellington and Christchurch to produce world, features and business pages on its nine daily newspapers. But editing and layout of local and sports pages would remain under the control of individual papers. 'The continuing trend for newspaper and magazine publishers to cut costs by reducing staff and centralising production seems certain to raise questions of editorial control,' the Press Council says. (NZPA via Media Guardian)

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