Australian Community Media (ACM) has told staff it plans to make 35 roles redundant across its regional mastheads, including the Canberra Times, Illawarra Mercury and Newcastle Herald.

As reported by the ABC, the media company informed staff of the cuts during a town hall meeting on Wednesday, with voluntary redundancies offered to staff first, and journalists from the video, agriculture property and federal politics teams protected.

The cuts will impact journalists, photographers and production and design staff across 11 newsrooms, and come a week after ACM announced it would discontinue printing eight of its newspapers. According to the ABC, ACM managing director Tony Kendall , in an email to staff, said the job losses were a consequence of Facebook's parent company Meta withdrawing funding.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), has voiced concern over the cuts, with the union's Acting Media Director, Michelle Rae, suggesting that such actions undermine ACM's mission as a 'trusted voice' in regional communities.

"While ACM promotes itself as a “trusted voice” in the regional communities in which it operates, continued cost-cutting and redundancies only undermine its mission.," said Rae. "For decades, regional newspapers have been the heartbeat of their communities, providing local news that big national and metropolitan outlets can’t or won’t provide. They have also provided quality local jobs for thousands of journalists, photographers, production staff, designers, and more.

"This trend, which started with the relaxation of media ownership laws and has been accelerated by the actions of social media giant Meta, seriously threatens the important role that journalism plays in a democracy: keeping the public informed and holding powerful institutions accountable."

Rae called for government action to prevent further erosion of regional media, including providing funding that will directly support the employment of local journalists. "It’s clear that previous federal government efforts to support regional journalism have been insufficient or poorly targeted and, as a result, newsroom closures and job losses have continued unabated."

The MEAA National House Committee echoed Rae's concerns, stating that the loss of up to 35 jobs from ACM’s regional newsrooms will inevitably leave communities less informed on issues that affect them every day. "The loss of up to 35 jobs from ACM’s regional newsrooms will inevitably leave communities less informed on issues that affect them every day," the Committee said in a statement.

The Committee highlighted the importance of local journalism in holding powerful institutions accountable and providing news that speaks to the concerns of local communities. "In a fractured and increasingly polarised political, social, and economic landscape, our readers deserve to know that their local reporters have their backs and, in turn, have the resources and workforce to undertake that important work. Another series of cuts, even as we have seen more regional and local papers stop printing in recent weeks, is a devastating blow to that confidence and trust. Our communities deserve better," the Committee said.