Age editor Alex Lavelle departs less than a week after staff voiced discontent

The editor of the Age, Alex Lavelle, is leaving the publication after 20 years on staff and almost four years as editor, less than a week after journalists expressed concern over the paper’s editorial direction being increasingly decided by Sydney.

His departure was announced in an all-staff email on Thursday afternoon, obtained by Guardian Australia.

The email said Lavelle’s editorship over the past three and a half years had “returned the Age to a position of strength”.

“The Age has expanded its subscriber base, grown its audience and represented the interests of its readers without fear or favour. The Age newsroom can feel confident about its future at a time much of the media industry faces uncertainty. This is, in large part, down to Alex’s hard work.”

World editor Michelle Griffin will step in as acting editor while the Age searches for a replacement. The email said external and internal candidates would be considered.

An all-staff briefing with executive editor James Chessell, Griffin, and publishing officer Chris Janz was held at 5.30pm on Thursday. Staff were told to submit any questions they had in an online form.

It is understood Chessell spent a substantial part of a brief staff video conference on Thursday afternoon discussing the staff letter. However, he told staff Lavelle’s departure was unrelated.

He said the reason for Lavelle’s leaving was “confidential”.

Chessell disagreed with much of the staff letter, but said he accepted it also contained some valid criticisms.

The meeting lasted less than 15 minutes.

Guardian Australia understands reporters at the masthead were shocked by the announcement, which followed a week of escalating tensions in the newsroom after almost 70 journalists sent a letter to Nine executives saying they were worried about maintaining the paper’s “proud reputation and independence”.

Those who signed the letter were supportive of Lavelle’s leadership, and had called for Lavelle to be given back full control to edit from Melbourne.

Lavelle’s sudden departure was unexpected. It is believed that before Thursday he had scheduled a series of routine catch-up meetings with staff in the coming days and weeks.

However, it followed mounting alarm within the Age newsroom about critical errors in two pieces dealing with Indigenous affairs – a front-page piece that claimed, without evidence, that Black Lives Matters protesters were planning violence, and an editorial that wrongly claimed Australia did not have a history of slavery – as well as the general direction of the masthead.

Age staff have also expressed concern about what they see as increasing micromanagement of the historic masthead, which is older than the state of Victoria, from executives based in Sydney.

Several senior staff tweeted in support of Lavelle, and expressed sadness about his exit from the newspaper.

Lavelle’s departure also comes just days after the Age and 60 Minutes reported one of the biggest political bombshells of the year, around allegations of branch-stacking in the Victorian Labor party that have resulted in one state minister being fired and quitting the party, and two others resigning from the ministry.

The reporting has led to the extraordinary national intervention into the Victorian branch, including the suspension of voting rights for the next three years for determining preselections for the next state and federal elections.

Chessell declined to comment to Guardian Australia.