There is speculation today that former editor of The Sunday Times, Brett McCarthy, is being sounded out to take over the vacant editor's position at The West Australian following Paul Armstrong's departure.
There is speculation today that former editor of The Sunday Times, Brett McCarthy, is being sounded out to take over the vacant editor's position at The West Australian following Paul Armstrong's departure.
In a statement to the stock market today, West Australian Newspaper Holdings, the owner behind the paper, said Mr Armstrong had "ceased as editor".
Editor-in-chief Bob Cronin would edit the newspaper until a replacement is found for Mr Armstrong, WAN said.
Speculation over Mr McCarthy was helped by comments made by WAN chairman Kerry Stokes at a WA Business News function last year, when he held up a copy of The Sunday Times and said the paper was better than The West.
It was widely speculated that it was only a matter of time before Mr Stokes would move to expel Mr Armstrong, who had been editor since 2003.
Mr Stokes gained control of the WAN board after several board members resigned late last year.
Independent media analyst Peter Cox said the end of Mr Armstrong's tenure was not surprising.
"That has been absolutely expected, it was only a matter of time," Mr Cox said.
"The editor annoyed the daylights out of a number of people in WA."
Mr Stokes, chairman of the Seven Network, had been critical of Mr Armstrong for some time.
Last month he said Mr Armstrong's future was in the hands of WAN's newly appointed chief executive Chris Wharton.
Mr Stokes has implemented several management changes since he took over as chairman of WAN in December.
His first move was to install Mr Wharton, former managing director of Seven Network's Perth television station, as WAN CEO, replacing Ken Steinke.
He then appointed Mr Cronin, who played a senior role at Mr Stokes' Shanghai Daily newspaper in China for several years, as editor-in-chief.
The news of Mr Armstrong's exit was welcomed by many, including the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).
MEAA Western Australian branch president David Cohen said he had concerns about the way The West Australian was being run.
"Unfair dismissals of staff happened more than once, he was a poor communicator with his staff," he said.
Mr Cohen said he hoped the influence of the newspaper would now be used more judiciously.
"The West has been going for 176 years, it's by far the biggest daily paper in WA. It has a lot of power and influence.
"Some people regarded Mr Armstrong and his direction of The West as being overly confrontational and needlessly adversarial.
"I welcome that power and influence perhaps being used more judiciously now."
During Mr Armstrong's editorship, the newspaper was reprimanded by the Press Council on six occasions.
Blogs on a raft of sites demonstrated the anger Mr Armstrong had caused among readers.
One comment on the WA Today website from "Westie" said, "Good to see the bum thrown out on the streets".
Another, written by "Helen" said: "With only one paper in town he had no right to turn it into a laughing stock".
"Maz" said: "He should have been sacked long ago - good riddance Mr Armstrong."
Hartleys started coverage of WAN last week and has rated it as a speculative buy with a 12 month price target of $7.36. Shares in WAN last traded at $4.75 at 15:54 AEDT.
Analysts at the broker have forecast a net profit of $103.8 million this financial year and $100.4 million the following year. WAN achieved $115.2 million in net profit after tax for the 2008 financial year.
