COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Trinity Mirror has announced a net total of 40 job losses as part of a restructure that will foster greater collaboration between its regional titles and national flagship papers, as well as put more emphasis on digital platforms.



The publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror said that the "significant changes" to its publishing operation will create an "integrated approach to creating and sharing first-class content across the group".

The model will see content being shared between all Trinity's regional and national titles. But the move will also put greater emphasis on digital content, including "breaking news, pictures and video".

Trinity said that its regional titles would focus more on the curation of "community content". A new shared content unit based in Liverpool will create high-quality, non-local material for all of Trinity Mirror's regional newspapers and digital channels.

The restructure will result in 92 posts being cut from Trinity's 800 editorial staff across all titles, excluding Scotland, but the firm will hire 52 new posts, with half at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People.

This will mean a net loss of 40 roles overall, all coming from the regional newspaper teams. The company said that it hopes to achieve redundancies via voluntary means as well redeploying staff, where possible, to new positions.

Trinity Mirror editorial director Neil Benson said: "Our newsrooms have made great progress in embracing the digital world in recent years but, essentially, our processes have remained print-led.

"This new approach is a bold, imaginative step that will enable us to become a fully-fledged, digitally-focused news operation, and brings together for the first time the best of our regional and national journalism.

"It is never easy to make these decisions when it affects our colleagues in this way but we must re-engineer the way we work if our journalism is to thrive in the future."

Lloyd Embley, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, said that the restructure is a "huge step forward" for The Mirror as it puts more focus on digital.

He added that the move would be underpinned by technology, including new content management systems being rolled out across Trinity Mirror's newsrooms.

A new shared content unit based in Liverpool will create high-quality, non-local material for all of Trinity Mirror's regional newspapers and digital channels.

Strike threat as editorial jobs to go at the Coventry Telegraph

JOURNALISTS at the Coventry Telegraph could strike over the latest round of job cuts.

Almost a quarter of its 25 editorial staff are at risk of redundancy as part of cost-cutting by owners Trinity Mirror which is axing 90 jobs from 800 staff across regional titles, including in Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Manchester and Newcastle.

It is the third major jobs cull in five years in Coventry, according to the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). Last year editor Darren Parkin was replaced by Alun Thorne.

Six posts are at risk including that of well-known political correspondent and columnist Les Reid. Others are in sport, features and production.

The NUJ claimed the company had so far declined to have discussion about its plans and say a ballot on industrial action is currently being planned.

Chris Morley, the union's regional organiser, said: "The bottom line for our members is that no-one must be forced out of work and our reps have indicated that their chapels are prepared to defend that principle."

A 30-day consultation has begun those affected.

Trinity Mirror said the overhaul would lead to closer working between its national and regional titles with more content being shared. It also said it hoped to redeploy more than half of the staff whose jobs are being made redundant.

Editorial director Neil Benson said: "It is never easy to make these decisions when it affects our colleagues in this way but we must re-engineer the way we work if our journalism is to thrive in the future."