Lachlan Murdoch jets in to shake up Holt Street
News Corp Australia's (or Australasia's – whatever that really means) new chairman Michael Miller is settling into his spot on the executive floor of the Murdochs' Holt Street bunker.
Former group editorial director Campbell Reid was shipped off to corporate affairs last week, a gig we expect he'll be entirely effective at, for what it's worth (answer = less than nothing). But he's the first cab off a teeming rank.
Chairman Lachlan Murdoch lobs into Sydney this week to grill the troops. Budgets are being razed and editors are being shuffled. The Australian's veteran editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell is almost certainly leaving the building before Christmas, most likely replaced by the Daily Telegraph's batshit crazy editor (God love him) Paul Whittaker. Boris, as he's affectionately known, was offered a gig based in News Corp's New York HQ earlier this year, but (wisely?) demurred.
The Courier Mail's editor Chris Dore is expected to return to Sydney to run the Tele.
The division of labour between Miller and "chief executive" Peter Tonagh, as we predicted, is already as clear as mud. Stories from clients and executives already abound, as they're asked in for the same meeting twice, and one's office asking if they've already had it with the other.
Both are entirely capable fellows, but LKM was always going to be gun shy about having a "management consultant" running his dad's baby.
