While executive attention might have been on the NZCC's merger decision, journalists at Fairfax Media called a strike after deciding a new round of cuts went too far.

A seven-day strike is a reponse to cuts which will see newsrooms on The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald cut by a quarter, initially through voluntary redundancies.

Some 125 jobs will be cut as part of a plan to save a further $30 million.

The unprecedented industrial action follows a growing mood against newsroom downsizing, with their News Corp colleagues in Brisbane recently reacting with a no-confidence vote to photographic cuts.

Fairfax says the print and digital editions of the metro dailies will still be produced during the strike, but the papers' reputation and credibility is likely to be damaged its impact on coverage of the federal Budget.

Commentators estimate the trimmed-down size of the Fairfax editorial team at about 375 compared with around 1,000 in 2011.