Fairfax Media's restructure of its ACT publishing operations, including The Canberra Times, will result in fewer job losses than originally proposed, the company has told staff.
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Fairfax announced last month that the national capital's daily newspaper would make the historic switch to a compact print format seven days a week as part of the transformation of the company's regional, rural and suburban publishing division, Australian Community Media (ACM).
Employees in Canberra were briefed on Thursday on the finalised plan for The Canberra Times after a period of consultation with staff and the community.
The editorial director of ACM, Rod Quinn, a former editor-in-chief of The Canberra Times, confirmed that the paper's redesigned weekday, Saturday and Sunday editions would be introduced early in the second half of 2016.
"The response to the compact format plan has been enthusiastic," the Canberra-based Quinn said.
As a result of feedback from Canberra Times staff, extra resources in editorial production, photography and administration have been added to the newsroom staffing originally proposed.
The company expects voluntary redundancies of about nine full-time equivalent positions from across the company's ACT and NSW Southern Inland operating group, mostly from editorial.
The reduction is three less than originally proposed. Fairfax's federal Parliamentary bureau in Canberra is not affected and was not part of the proposal.
Staff were briefed on Thursday on the voluntary redundancy program and a number of new roles created in the restructure.
In other publishing changes confirmed for the operating group, the Queanbeyan Age will be merged with the Queanbeyan edition of The Chronicle and relaunched as a new-look free weekly newspaper, and the Cooma-Monaro Express and the Summit Sun at Jindabyne will no longer be published.
Mastheads such as The Goulburn Post, Yass Tribune and Southern Highland News will move to a new digital-first publishing system, with new-look newspapers, more online content and enhanced advertising solutions.
Group business manager Corinne Whiteman said constructive input from staff had helped fine-tune the changes needed to make the business more sustainable.
As a result of feedback, additional local journalist resources have been added to The Goulburn Post, Yass Tribune and Southern Highland News.
Director of ACM John Angilley thanked employees and the community for their feedback.
"It is heartening to see that our communities care as much as we do about our local journalism and our trusted mastheads," Mr Angilley said.
"With the continued support of our audiences and advertisers, our newspapers and websites will remain vibrant local voices."
Fairfax has been transforming its ACM business since 2014 to build a stronger, modern media network of regional, rural and suburban community titles.
The Canberra Times, which celebrates 90 years of publishing in Canberra this year, has been produced as a broadsheet for 50 years.
It was previously published in the smaller page format between 1956 and 1964. It has presented its weekday Comment, Arts, Business and Sport sections on compact pages since 2013.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age moved to compact formats three years ago.
