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News Corp shares rose another 2% on Wall Street overnight to end the day at $US22.50, a new five-year high as investors positioned themselves for the split.

The situation of Fairfax Media, with three editors standing down in one day, make this a good time to think carefully about what journalists mean by editorial independence.

For all the hand-wringing about the future of journalism and the importance of quality newspapers for our democracy, there’s a very simple solution.

Fairfax executives and board members have sat back and watched more than 80% of the value of the company evaporate.

UPDATED: Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood has edged out three of his most senior editors and installed former BRW boss Sean Aylmer as editor of the Sydney Morning Herald write Andrew Crook and Matthew Knott.

For anyone from the Left, the week’s events are a genuine setback, and another instalment in the mythologisation of Australian media, and public life in general.

Despite talk of “tears on the newsroom floor”, it is not journalists but the forgotten employees in sales, clerical and administration who have the most to fear from Greg Hywood and Kim Williams’ razor gangs.

Fairfax has outlined a raft of editorial changes to its papers following the mass sackings announced on Monday. Chaser rabble-rouser Chris Taylor got hold of the staff memo …

Having seen how Gina Rinehart treats her kids, does any self-interested Fairfax Media investor seriously fancy being a minority shareholder in a complex beast controlled by Australia’s most litigious Rich Lister.

Fairfax Media will be forced to substantially renegotiate its hard-copy ad rates, leading industry executives say, after the ailing giant revealed the page size of its major metro mastheads would shrink by 30%.

Eight years ago, then-Fairfax chairman Dean Wills invited me to his home to ask me to think about the future of his company’s broadsheet newspapers. They didn’t listen then, and they’re not listening now.

The profession of journalism is under the microscope at present with, sadly, too few defenders, writes Ranald Macdonald, a former editor-in-chief of The Age.

Senator George Brandis posed a curly one for Finance Minister Penny Wong in question time yesterday.

Today’s statement from Fairfax Media and CEO Greg Hywood is deficient on one major point.

Fairfax Media will move The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age to a tabloid and sack 1900 staff — including 380 journalists — as part of a massive cost cutting drive.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s bid to score a seat on the board of Fairfax Media looks increasingly likely after she lifted her stake in the company to over 15% overnight. So just who would Rinehart be dealing with?

There is a respectable point of view among those who analyse media businesses that the smart thing to do for serious news journalism is move to the political right.

Fairfax executives Garry Linnell and Jack Matthews have attacked their own journalists for taking strike action and congratulated staff who kept working in a threatening email.

Fining newspapers or forcing them to publish a right of reply when they are found to have breached standards would be a fundamental attack on free speech, according to News Limited’s editorial chief.

With its share price sliding to record lows, Fairfax Media is now in the invidious position of having the most wildly optimistic balance sheet of any ASX200 company.

The effort by Australia’s richest businesswoman, Gina Rinehart, to break into the boardroom of Fairfax Media, is a textbook study in how not to conduct a negotiation.