New Zealand: editorial jobs outsourced

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on August 14, 2007 at 9:52 AM

In what may be a new step in the outsourcing process across newsrooms, APN News & Media in New Zealand has begun to outsource its editorial production work.

News editing and layout at New Zealand’s biggest daily, The New Zealand Herald, will no longer take place within the newsroom. 20-full-time sub-editors will work for contractor Pagemasters New Zealand, 20 minutes away from the main offices.

While many newspapers and news people have shown interest in the project, most seem to be waiting to see the outcome.

The APN News & Media group is part of Dublin's Independent News & Media PLC, which publishes 175 newspapers and magazines throughout the world.

The Irish newspapers of the group will soon adopt the same editorial outsourcing strategy. As will five other daily and three weekly newspapers in New Zealand, by the end of the year.

In six weeks, “we move to the Aucklander weekly ... the Herald on Sunday ... and in October we will start transferring to regional papers," said APN deputy chief executive Rick Neville.

Source: Editor & Publisher through IFRA Executive News Service