aceNine to axe 30 jobs at the Age and SMH due to ‘extreme’ AI disruption
Abstract: Australia’s biggest media company, Nine Entertainment, has blamed the “extreme state of disruption” from AI for its decision to cut another 30 newsroom jobs at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. On Tuesday, the managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire, told staff the company was looking to cut “around 30” positions, made up of voluntary and targeted redundancies. Maguire said the exercise was not simply a matter of cutting costs, but was an “evolution” to adapt to structural change. “In the last 12 mont…
On 21 July 2026, Nine Entertainment told staff at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age it would cut around 30 roles through voluntary and targeted redundancies. Publishing managing director Tory Maguire said the company is in an extreme state of disruption because of AI, with reader revenue stalling for the first time in three years and digital subscription revenue down 6% last year.
The cuts matter because they link AI search features and chatbot news use directly to newsroom employment and the business model for locally owned journalism in Australia. What remains uncertain is whether planned retraining and hiring for digital-first, reader-savvy, data-informed roles will offset losses, and how much traffic decline is definitively caused by AI summaries versus other factors.
- Nine Entertainment managing director of publishing Tory Maguire told staff on Tuesday it would cut around 30 positions at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age through voluntary and targeted redundancies.
- Maguire said reader revenue stalled for the first time in three years and digital subscription revenue was down 6% last year, with the division under enormous pressure partly due to AI search results.
- The company cited Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 finding 10% of news consumers use AI chatbots for news, rising to 16% for under-35s, and warnings about Google AI summaries reducing click-throughs.
Nine Entertainment will eliminate about 30 newsroom jobs at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, attributing stalled reader revenue and falling digital subscriptions to AI-driven disruption of search and news consumption.
The rundown
On Tuesday 21 July 2026, Nine's publishing chief Tory Maguire framed the cuts as an evolution to adapt to structural change, not just cost saving, noting the Australian Financial Review would not be affected because it has had a paywall since 2007 and is more digital-first.
The announcement follows 200 jobs cut two years earlier including 90 from legacy mastheads and the AFR, after Meta walked away from the news media bargaining code, and a later statement by CEO Matt Stanton about $100m in cuts over two years.
External context cited includes University of Sydney research finding Australian journalism was largely invisible in Microsoft Copilot AI-generated summaries that favour US or European media, and Nine's structure as owner of publishing, Nine Television, Stan and nine.com.au.
Sources
- JournalismThe Guardian2026-07-21
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