On the eve of the Olympics, journalists at Australian newspapers have gone on strike.

Journalists at some of Australia’s biggest newspapers have gone on strike on the eve of the Paris Olympics after their demands for higher pay were rejected by management.

Editorial staff at Nine Entertainment, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times, and WAtoday, ceased work at 11am on Friday, just hours before the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games. In Melbourne, journalists picketed outside The Age newspaper, wearing T-shirts and waving placards emblazoned with the slogan: “Don’t torch journalism.”

The walkout followed a staff vote to reject annual pay increases of between 3 and 4 percent over the next three years, arguing that the offer did not keep pace with rising living costs.

“We want a pay rise in line with CPI, a commitment to workplace diversity, safeguards around AI, and a fair deal for freelancers,” the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said in a post on X.

Nine Entertainment, which also owns Nine Network television and Nine Radio, is the official broadcaster of the games and has sent about 200 staff to Paris to cover the competition.

Like other countries, Australia has seen its media landscape devastated by successive rounds of job cuts in recent years amid plunging advertising revenues. Last month, Nine Entertainment announced plans to let go of up to 200 employees, following similar redundancy announcements by rivals News Ltd and Seven West Media.