Greg Hywood
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Gregory Colin Hywood (born 26 September 1954) is an Australian journalist, editor and media executive who was CEO of
Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...
, one of Australia's largest media organisations, from 2010 to 2018.


Career


Early journalism

Gregory Hywood graduated with an economics degree from
Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
in Victoria in 1975, and was working as an economist for automotive manufacturer
Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...
when he was hired as a cadet journalist by then-editor of the Melbourne bureau of the Fairfax-owned national business newspaper ''
Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...
'', Trevor Sykes. Hywood reported on business and both domestic and foreign politics for the ''AFR'' for nearly 17 years, winning a
Walkley Award The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
in 1980 for a story he broke about the internal operations of Holden. In the early 1990s, Hywood was made editor of the ''Australian Financial Review'' and then promoted to publisher and editor-in-chief of the paper. He was then moved within the Fairfax organisation to become publisher and editor-in-chief of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' and '' Sun Herald'', and then publisher and editor-in-chief of ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
''. In 2003, Hywood left Fairfax for a position as Executive Director Policy and Cabinet in the Victorian Government's Department of the Premier for Steve Bracks, his resignation rumoured to be due to a falling-out with then-CEO Fred Hilmer over Fairfax's internet strategy. Hywood was appointed CEO of Tourism Victoria in 2006 and in 2008, he concurrently held the position of Deputy Secretary (Brand, Communications and Tourism) at the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development. In recent years he has held board positions on the Tourism and Transport Forum, the Heart Foundation, the Victorian Major Events Company, and the
Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...
Council.


CEO of Fairfax

In October 2010, Hywood was appointed an Independent non-executive director of Fairfax Media, and following the sudden resignation of CEO Brian McCarthy in December 2010, appointed interim CEO. By March 2011 Fairfax Media confirmed his appointment as permanent chief executive and managing director. Hywood made headlines in May 2011 when announcing a plan to outsource key aspects of production, including plans to outsource news sub-editing to the agency Pagemasters, part-owned by Fairfax rival
News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...
. His proposal sparked stop-work meetings among journalists at both Fairfax and rival publications, as well as open criticism from the American Copy Editor's Society, with some media commentators arguing that the most likely hope for newspaper survival is maintaining excellent quality, something that cannot be contracted or guaranteed through outsourced sub-editing, according to Australian academic Margaret Simons. In May 2017, he fronted a Senate inquiry into journalism, at which point he was still CEO of Fairfax. He was asked questions about "job cuts, a week-long strike by staff and a $2.7bn offer to buy the company." Hywood left Fairfax Media following the merger with the
Nine Entertainment Co. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with holdings in mass media radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding. The entity is largely a succ ...
in 2018.


Later career

In October 2020 Hywood was appointed chair of Free TV, a role that had remained vacant since the resignation of Harold Mitchell in 2018.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hywood, Greg 1954 births Living people Australian businesspeople Australian public servants Australian newspaper editors Monash University alumni The Sydney Morning Herald people