I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

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Showing posts with label Fairfax strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fairfax strike. Show all posts

5 May 2017

The Decline of Print

(a found prose-poem)

Headline: Fairfax journalists face axe!
Journalists at Fairfax Media are bracing themselves 
for big job losses at the publisher’s news­papers
in a fresh attack on costs.

Journalists have said the drastic industrial action 
is them saying "enough" to the cutting of jobs and instead
finding a way to invest in journalism.

Headline: Fairfax journalists miss budget!
It means staff will not cover the federal budget, 

which will be handed down on Tuesday.

Headline: Fairfax to publish as usual!
Fairfax Media says it is "disappointed" 

journalists from three of its mastheads have voted
to strike for a week in response to job cuts, but
will continue to publish its newspapers as usual.

The protests come …in response to the company’s decision to cut
125 staff in a bid to save $30 million. That figure is reported to be
approximately the same amount that Fairfax executives –
including [the] chief … could claim in recent bonuses.

Irony, un-headlined:
Fairfax journalists announced via Twitter 
that they will be on strike 
for seven days from Wednesday.

Personal cop-out:
I’m not taking sides here; 
I’m just reporting.

Created in response to Poets United's Midweek Motif  ~ News Media. 

Notes:

This unprecedented situation is going on in Australia right now. Fairfax is Australia's leading media company.

The first headline is an example of irony in itself. I haven't put a link there because, in the short time of writing the poem, I can no longer get access to this article; the rival media chain which published it now urges me to subscribe online to keep seeing the content.

Another irony is that the job cuts were announced on World Press Freedom Day.