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Jobs axe poised again at Trinity Mirror titles


Merseyside and North Wales are facing a new round of redundancies and re- organisation. The NUJ is concerned about


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the strategic direction of the company and the impact on the journalism produced. The cuts include: • Plans to axe six roles in


North Wales • Ten roles to go on


Merseyside but with jobs created or vacancies filled this will result in the net loss of two jobs • Two multi-media journalists in Birmingham to go. A new round of redundancies has been announced at the Manchester Evening News (MEN) and Huddersfield Examiner as part of Trinity Mirror’s re-organisation plans. Yet again it is the


photographers who have


borne the brunt, with three among the eight photographers going at the MEN, plus one of three assistant publishing editors. The company intends to create five new posts including two digital sports writers, one trend writer, one city beat reporter and one breaking news blogger. At the Huddersfield


Examiner, the head of news role is being made redundant but the successful candidate for the currently vacant post (since February) of executive


editor digital will take on both roles. Three other roles are going, two part-time admin staff and a community content curator. A new role of digital sports writer is being created. In addition, the small Birmingham city centre office, used by council and court reporters, is targeted for closure with staff to go to the existing main office at Fort Dunlop.


The Birmingham plans are being viewed by the union as the abandonment of a city of one million people.


New Day closure challenged


buying a newspaper, said Simon Fox, the publisher’s chief executive. He said it had been an attempt at innovation, but had not worked. Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser, asked about the total


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costs of the New Day experiment and whether it would lead to other parts of the Trinity MIrror portfolio of publications having to make sacrifices.


ANOTHER BLAST FOR THE BUGLE


Country Bugle, with three members keeping their jobs. The union had


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campaigned to keep the Bugle, which specialises


alks between the NUJ and Trinity Mirror have saved the Black


in the industrial heritage and social history of the Black Country’s boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall, in its present home. The original plan was to cut the staff from this


former Local World title to two reporters working remotely and move all production to Tamworth, Staffordshire; many believed this spelled the death knell for the publication.


Three reporters will now


remain at the newspaper’s office in the Dudley Archives building, albeit in a smaller, cheaper room. The post of editor and the part-time administration staff will be lost.


he NUJ led questions at Trinity Mirror’s annual general meeting in London’s Docklands on the closure of the New Day after just two months of production The newspaper had been aimed at people who had stopped


© DINENDRA HARIA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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rinity Mirror’s regional centres in Kent, Essex, Birmingham, Coventry,


in brief...


HONOURS FOR DUNDEE AND KENT The Dundee Courier was named the regional daily newspaper of the year and the Kent Messenger took the weekly title at the annual Regional Press Awards. The Croydon Advertiser’s Gareth Davies was Weekly Reporter of the Year award, the fourth such award he has won and his third consecutive one.


The NUJ is concerned about the strategic direction of the company


LLEWELLIN IS TIMES SCOTTISH EDITOR The Times has said that it intends to expand its Scottish coverage with the appointment of Newsquest Herald and Times group editor Magnus Llewellin as its Scottish editor. In his current job Llewellin oversees Glasgow-based titles the The Herald, Sunday Herald, The National and Evening Times.


WESTERN DAILY PRESS NEW CHIEF Gavin Thompson, a former Bristol Post assistant editor (business) is the new editor of the Western Daily Press. Both titles are owned by Trinity Mirror.Thompson spent seven years on the Post. He has also worked at the Hull Daily Mail, Aberdeen Press and Journal and the Gloucestershire Echo after beginning his career at the Somerset Country Gazette.


ARCHANT TO CLOSE LONDON24 WEBSITE Archant is to close its London-wide news website London24.com. The site, which operates from Archant’s office in Barking, east London, employs four editorial staff including editor Kate Nelson, two news reporters and one sports reporter.


CHANNEL 4 BUYS STAKE IN BARCROFT Channel 4 has bought a minority stake in the news agency Barcroft Media. The London-based Barcroft has focuses on human interest and natural world, stories. It employs around 50-staff. It sells photos and videos to news organisations around the UK, produces its own TV documentaries. It says that it has more than two million subscribers to its Youtube channels.


theJournalist | 03


© ADAM VAUGHAN / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO


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