Piss off, you’re gone.

Fairfax Media must search for a new editor for its main Melbourne newspaper after the abrupt departure of current editor-in-chief, Andrew Jaspan.

The announcement was made to Age staff late this morning by Don Churchill, Fairfax’s chief executive for Victoria. Mr Jaspan’s senior deputy, Paul Ramadge, has been appointed acting editor-in-chief.

There’s absolutely no question that the quality of The Age dropped drastically during Jaspan’s tenure, along with any semblance of balance. At the same time there was a noticeable increase in sensationalist and style-over-substance journalism, as even the main “serious” section of the paper tended towards an over-reliance on content-neutral, parochial and lifestyle-ish filler.

If the new editor steers The Age back on track and shifts the focus to serious, quality journalism I might just start buying it again.

UPDATE (1.00pm): Will points out in comments that the summary of this story on The Age’s website tells a slightly different story.

Whoa! Would you tap (or peg) this?

Carn git me, laydeez!

UPDATE II (1.15pm): Andrew Landeryou’s pathetic new attempt to make some money post-bankruptcy, VEXNEWS, has hilariously claimed to have the Jaspan tapping story as an exclusive.

Check out them gnarly Landeryou Photoshopping skillz

I bet that’s news to all of the people who have also exclusively revealed the news, The Age itself included.

Andrew Jaspan and The Age salivated over it then, and Melbourne’s leading gutter-tabloid broadsheet is still salivating over it now.

The way that this supposedly respectable newspaper shamelessly uses sex to try and attract readers is pathetic. Andrew Jaspan has a lot to answer for.

(Also, I bet that poor woman had no idea that she’d end up being used as soft-core erotica and reader bait for the rest of The Age’s existence.)

UPDATE (12.55pm): Someone at The Age obviously thought the same as me.