Fairfax Media is abandoning quality journalism at its flagship newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, according to staff who yesterday rejected a company plan to shed 550 jobs. Read more at the Alliance's new website Fair Go, Fairfax: Don't Discount Journalism. The site has a petition, backgound information, editorials and other features.

No group has emerged to claim responsibility for abducting Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan who went missing in Somalia at the weekend. Brennan, 37, with his Canadian colleague Amanda Lindhout, Somali journalist Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and their driver, who has been identified only as Mahad, have been missing since Saturday after leaving the Somalian capital, Mogadishu. "It is not clear whether they are being held for political purposes, bargaining chips or financial purposes," an NUSOJ spokesman told the Alliance. “But journalists who spoke on condition of anonymity for their security said the abduction seems [to be a] pre-planned attack." Read full press release.

Floods, drought, mining, corrupt cops, deaths in custody, the list of finalists in this year’s Queensland Media Awards contains a lot of old favourites, yet the work produced by Sunshine State journalists remains as fresh and powerful as ever. The judges said the standard of entries this year was “as high as ever. Queensland continues to be the source of some of this country’s most outstanding journalism." View the full list of this year’s finalists here.

Close to 30 employees at Media Monitors have been made redundant as the company moves part of its press operations to Malaysia. Alliance members at Media Monitors have denounced the move and are calling on the company to reconsider its decision. A petition is currently being circulated amongst staff opposing management’s decision to shift jobs offshore.

Management yesterday confirmed their position that there is no need for a collective agreement at Fairfax Digital. Our claim seeks to include all Fairfax Digital journalists in the current agreement - so they can have access to the fair pay and conditions fought for and won over the years, like last year’s $1900 copyright payment. The Alliance will return to the Industrial Relations Commission to get orders for a ballot of Fairfax metro members for protected industrial action.