Our first tilt at the ailing Faifax Media board has been fended off. However the new company chairman Roger Corbett pledged at last week’s annual general meeting that he’ll consider the three media-experienced candidates for the Fairfax board – Steve Harris, Stephen Mayne and myself. The new chair said the board’s nominations’ committee will mull over this in coming months to see who it will appoint to the Fairfax Media board’s depleted ranks and would take into account the candidature of such strong potential talent.

The vote was surprisingly strong, given the way board elections are conducted in Australia, and I thank all shareholders for their enthusiasm and support. Securing almost 10 per cent of the vote when the board had specifically recommended against my candidature was a real coup, and it sends a strong message to the company that renewal is something shareholders are seriously wanting.

The recommendation two weeks ago by superannuation advisory group, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) to shareholders and super funds to either abstain or support Steve Harris and myself clearly lifted our votes. In all, the ‘for’ and ‘abstain’ votes totalled around 150 million votes. This is a very good base from which to work in future and to indicate to publicly listed companies that their owners – shareholders – are not going to be quiet when critical issues of good corporate governance are at stake.

Many thanks to those trustees and senior managers at the many ‘all profit to members’ industry and government super funds who went out of their way to offer support and get their custodians and managers to actually get out there and vote.

Many thanks, too, to the hundreds of individuals who privately pledged their support in the hope that the Fairfax Media board might, at last, get some much-needed editorial oomph on it.  Perhaps not this time, but for those of you who know me, I take heart in long and arduous campaigns if I believe the effort is worth it.  In this case, the good governance of Fairfax Media is a matter of the highest priority.  It really ain’t over till this thin bloke sings.

Gerard Noonan

Board Candidate for Fairfax Media
Chair, Media Super
Chair, policy committee of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees
Member of the board of Innovation Australia
Member of the board of the Foundation of Public Interest Journalism
Member of the Media,Entertainment & Arts Alliance

Read the report here: Australian Council of Superannuation Investors report.

Gerard Noonan, former Australian Financial Review editor and winner of the Walkley Award for the Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism 2007, is running for the board of directors of Fairfax Media.

Why Noonan?

You may have read about the infighting among Fairfax Media directors in recent weeks. One issue is the lack of media experience on the board and the reluctance to renew the board by introducing new faces with requisite experience. Noonan believes that Fairfax Media needs to promote its quality journalism and needs to move swiftly to seize opportunities in the digital world.

In terms of experience, Noonan is:

• chairman of the Venture Capital Committee of the federal government’s statutory body Innovation Australia,
• chairman of the Media Super fund which has $2.5 billion in funds under management,
• chair of the policy committee of Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, and
• member of the board of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.

Noonan has been a journalist for more than 30 years. He was editor of the Australian Financial Review for just under five years. He has worked at Fairfax (including the Sydney Morning Herald) for approximately 25 years until he took redundancy last year. In 2007 he was awarded the Walkley for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.

If you own shares in Fairfax you can play a vital part in ensuring that at least one director on the board has recent media experience with the company.

How to vote for Noonan if you have shares in the Employee Share Scheme

This week you will have received a notice for the upcoming annual general meeting. Please read the mail-out. You can vote for Noonan by placing a cross in the box labelled “FOR” next to his name. Sign and return your vote to the address on the form.

How to vote for Noonan if you own ordinary shares in Fairfax Media

You may own shares in Fairfax if you bought them in the float or on the share market. This week you will have received a notice for the upcoming annual general meeting. Please read the mail-out. You can direct your proxy to Gerard Noonan. You can vote for Noonan by placing a cross in the box labelled “FOR” next to his name. Sign and return your vote to the address on the form.