Nine plans 30 newsroom cuts at SMH and Age

Nine Entertainment has told staff it plans to cut around 30 roles across the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, with the company linking the move to what it describes as a deepening wave of AI-driven disruption in publishing.

The announcement, delivered on Tuesday by Nine’s managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire, indicates the reductions will come through a mix of voluntary and targeted redundancies. According to the company, the planned changes are not being framed solely as a cost-saving measure, but as part of a broader adjustment to how the business operates in a changing media environment.

Nine to axe 30 jobs at the Age and SMH due to extreme AI dis

Maguire told staff that the group is dealing with an extreme state of disruption because of AI. That language is notable because it places artificial intelligence at the centre of the company’s explanation for why more newsroom roles are being removed. In Nine’s telling, the shift is not temporary or isolated. Instead, it is being presented as part of a structural change affecting how news organisations organise reporting, publishing and audience strategy.

The planned job losses affect two of the company’s best-known mastheads, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Both titles are central to Nine’s publishing arm, and any workforce reduction across them is likely to be watched closely inside the broader Australian media industry. The announcement also adds to a wider debate about how newsrooms respond to automation, audience habits and the pressure to adapt faster to digital publishing models.

Nine has said it intends to retrain staff and to hire for roles it sees as better aligned with the current media landscape, including digital-first, reader-savvy and data-informed positions. That suggests the company is not only reducing headcount, but also reshaping the mix of skills it wants in the newsroom.

What Nine says is changing

Maguire reportedly described the move as an evolution. That wording matters because it signals a deliberate repositioning rather than a one-off reset. In practice, it implies the business believes the old staffing and workflow model no longer fits the demands of a publishing operation facing rapid technological change.

Nine also said the Australian Financial Review will not be affected by the restructure. Maguire said that publication is more evolved than the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald in terms of being digital-first. That comparison helps explain how Nine is thinking about the internal differences across its publishing brands: some mastheads are being treated as further along in the transition to digital publishing than others.

For staff at the Age and SMH, the immediate impact is the uncertainty created by the proposed redundancies. For the company, the announcement reflects a broader attempt to align newsroom roles with the pace of change in media consumption and production tools. The use of AI as a direct justification shows how quickly the technology is moving from a future-facing industry topic to a factor in job decisions.

The decision is also significant because it comes from one of Australia’s biggest media companies, where staffing changes can influence expectations across the sector. If Nine follows through on the cuts, the move could reinforce a trend toward smaller or differently structured newsrooms, with more emphasis on digital output and data-led audience work.

At this stage, the company has outlined the plan to staff and the direction it says it wants to take. What remains to be seen is how the redundancies will be implemented and how the newsroom changes will affect the day-to-day operations of the two mastheads.