Fairfax Media has posted a loss of $2.73 billion for 2011/12, driven by massive writedowns on the value of its newspapers.

The media group's net loss for the year to June 24 was seven times bigger than the $390.9 million deficit it reported for the previous financial year.

Revenue at the media group, which is undergoing a massive restructure and shedding hundreds of jobs, fell to $2.33 billion from $2.5 billion.

The profit result was hit by $2.9billion in writedowns, comprising a $2.8 billion non-cash impairment charge and other significant items worth $140 million.

Stripping out those significant items, underlying net profit fell to $212 million from $283 million a year earlier.

Chief executive Greg Hywood defended the result, saying the underlying performance showed the company "has a sound and diversified business".

"These results reflect a challenging environment," he said in a statement.