Nine loses its chief publishing and digital officer

Chris Janz has stepped down from his role as Nine Entertainment’s chief publishing and digital officer.

The move comes months after Nine appointed Mike Sneesby as its chief executive; Sneesby beat Janz to the role.

Janz’s position will now be split in two with executive editor of the Herald and The Age James Chessell taking on the publishing aspects, with digital responsibility handed to Alex Parsons, who previously held the CDO role at Nine back in 2014.

For a year-and-a-half, Janz led Nine’s digital, publishing and technology business across various brands including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, The Age and the Brisbane Times.

Janz’s responsibilities encompassed the media corporation’s digital, print and broadcast video-on-demand assets, as well as technology and data for the wider group.

According to another Nine subsidiary The Australian Financial Review, in a communication to staff, Janz said he was proud of the work achieved over the years.

“It’s been an absolute honour to lead our mastheads over the past four years and the broader digital, publishing and technology business since the merger,” Janz said.

“I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made, particularly The Herald, The Age and the Financial Review."

Janz originally began his time as chief executive of HuffPost Australia under Fairfax Media and then Nine following the 2018 merger.