Plenty of people are slamming the move revealed yesterday that Bauer plans to merge the editorial operations of Dolly and Cleo into one. Do a Google search and you;ll see plenty of opinions. The Crikey coverage is the best in my view. Here’s part of what Crikey published on the topic:
Publishing legend Ita Buttrose has joined a chorus of former top editors voicing concern at an “extreme” proposal by magazine giant Bauer Media to merge the reporting staffs of its iconic titles Cleo and Dolly. Bauer staff are also alarmed by the company’s handling of the move, in which the current editors of the magazines have been portrayed as being in a “showdown” and a “fight to the death”.
Under the proposal announced to Bauer Media staff yesterday, the titles would remain separate publications but with only one pool of staff. There would be one editor-in-chief, one managing editor and one publisher overseeing both titles. All staff would have to reapply for their positions, with around half expected to lose their jobs. Either Cleo editor Sharri Markson or Dolly editor Tiffany Dunk is expected to become editor-in-chief.
Buttrose, the founding editor of Cleo, told Crikey: “I know everybody is cost-cutting at the moment, but this seems a bit extreme. You’d have to be a very experienced, very talented editor to put out both titles.
“I ran the women’s division at ACP Magazines, but all the titles had their own clearly defined editors. For one person to edit two magazines — that may be something they do in Germany, but it’s new for me … I’d like to see their business plan.”
Buttrose adds it would be extremely difficult for journalists to write across both titles given Dolly is aimed at teenagers while Cleo is targeted at women in their 20s and 30s.
“It could add to the uncertainty that I hear exists in the company over the future of some of the titles,” she added. “People get very jittery in the when they hear these things are going on.”
A Bauer insider said: “As a strategy, it’s kind of nuts. It’s a silly thing to set the two editors up against each other. They should have made a decision and moved the other one on or found them another role.” Unsurprisingly, the tabloids are revelling in the potential stoush– see today’s Daily Telegraph headline “Battle of the teen mag editors”.
I think the reality with this decision is Australian journalists, and magazine editors are well and truly overpaid.
They are treated like, and expect to be treated like celebrities and they want the pay packet to match.
In reality, there are a bigger pool of journalists with much lower overheads thanks to the internet. Unfortunately that occupation will have to accept change like the rest of us.
Let’s not forget these are magazines with plummeting circulation. From a KPI perspective, I would think Bauer magazines have no choice but to slash in-house employment costs.
Personally, merging Cosmopolitan and Cleo would have made more sense to me.
Amanda,
I don’t see this an an indication that Australian journalists or editors are overpaid. The salary data for the industry would certainly not indicate that they are.
The only thing this move is reflective of is the decline in sales, revenue and profitability of traditional print media.
Its creating free publicity for the two titles which should help push sales along.