Australia's media landscape was shaken up on Thursday morning after it was announced that Fairfax Media and Nine would be merging to create a media behemoth known as "Nine."
Partly in shock and partly in resignation, many lamented the merger and the removal of "Fairfax" as a brand title. Fairfax, an Australian media company, is more than 150 years old.
"The merged company will be called Nine". I've spent most of my working life at Fairfax. I want to cry.
I am less attached the name "Fairfax" than I am to the names of the noble mastheads we publish - mastheads which have been a pillar of public life in this country for 150-odd years. Hopefully our new overlords will value them too.
"there will be plenty of Fairfax Media DNA in the merged company" You don't need to say that when it is actually a merger. You say that when you are being taken over. Like saying there will be plenty of Fitzroy DNA in the Brisbane Lions
2019 programming unveiled. Hey Hey It's Saturday's Age. Merged At First Sight Two And A Half Men And A Token Woman Kate McClymont - Australian Ninja Warrior Millionaire Hot Seat In A Maserati Embarrassing Bodies Of Print Journalists #fairfax
So after 150-plus years this is all we get: “I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to Fairfax” https://t.co/GHjXMRTX2f
As always, @Kate_McClymont gets to the nub of it. 150 years of history wiped away in six paragraphs and a “thanks for your contribution”.
And others disputed the idea of the new "Nine" company being the result of a merger. "It's a Nine takeover," wrote media commentator Mike Carlton.
It doesn't look like a merger to me. It's a Nine takeover. After 176 years, Fairfax will be extinct. What a giant achievement for that prick Hywood. https://t.co/Gxhom71dPB
Independent. Once.
This is what happens when you don't buy a subscription to a newspaper
The merger of Fairfax and Nine into one commercial media megacorp in a country infamous for its lack of media diversity is of course another great reason TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE ABC. #savetheabc #auspol #ourabc https://t.co/v1XDSytjju
I’ve spoken to some of the regional journos this morning. They are shocked. The test for Channel 9’s planned takeover of Fairfax: what will happen to media diversity? Will there be fewer journalists?
Before anything else is unpacked, the fact this merged company will be known as Nine, and contain no mention of Fairfax, is particularly jarring
They gave away the name "Fairfax"? I want to cry, too. @murpharoo
This #Fairfax news is incredibly sad. As an SMH and AFR alumnus, watching the name disappear from our media landscape is like a death in the family. Vale Australian media diversity.
The name Fairfax has stood for so much over more than 150 years: quality, independent, fierce journalism, proud staff and loyal readers. Now it's to disappear - the symbol is the loss of the name, but it's far more than that. #valefairfax.
With a Nine/Fairfax merger, how would Fairfax cover a story where - to pluck a wildly improbable scenario from the sky - 60 Minutes was involved in a child kidnapping in Beirut?