Journalists face the sack Antony Catalano said the decision to close the seven papers was 'regrettable but inevitable'. Photo: Gabriele Charotte A publisher of local newspapers in Melbourne that is half-owned by Fairfax Media will sack 34 of its staff, including journalists, and close down seven local papers in the city's south-east, in another round of sackings in the media industry. Australian Associated Press on Tuesday also announced it would sack 25 people as part of a restructure of its editorial departments. Metro Media Publishing, half-owned by Fairfax Media, will later this month close the seven local newspapers: the Knox Weekly, the Monash Weekly, the Casey Weekly Cranbourne, the Casey Weekly Berwick-Pakenham, the Maroondah Weekly, the Peninsula Weekly and the Frankston Weekly. The publisher's chief executive, Antony Catalano, said the company would continue to publish the Dandenong Journal, the oldest community newspaper in Victoria. Mr Catalano said the decision to close the seven papers was "regrettable but inevitable." AAP's editor-in-chief, Tony Gillies, said the sackings reflected structural shifts in the media industry worldwide. He said the overall job reduction of up to 25 journalists represented about 10 per cent of editorial staff.