Regional publisher Johnston Press has begun the roll-out of its new editorial content management system which some fear will cost hundreds of sub-editors’ jobs.

As first revealed on HTFP last week, the company is to introduce a system which will allow reporters to write stories directly onto templated pages, as well as writing headlines for both the newspapers and the web.

The plan is to be rolled out across JP’s seven divisions by the end of next year, starting with the Midlands division which includes its daily titles in Northampton, Kettering and Peterborough.

Staff there were told this week that the system would be phased-in over the next four months, with training and coaching in how to use it to be given to all journalists.

An internal announcement to staff said: “As part of a project to improve the way that editorial content is gathered, prepared and delivered to our print and online platforms, the division is to implement a new editorial content management system.

“The system will allow words, pictures, video and audio to be handled in one place and will improve newsgathering and content loading workflows.

“Prior to introduction, journalists in each centre will be invited to attend presentations at which the new system and the implementation plan will be discussed.

“This investment in new editorial technology provides an excellent opportunity to improve the way content is gathered as well as meeting the needs of our readers and viewers. It will also remove a number of existing editorial workflow bottlenecks.”

Next-in-line for the implementation of the new system is JP’s South division, which includes The News, Portsmouth, and a series of weekly titles in West and East Sussex.

The new system, which will also enable the introduction of a new website template, has been supplied by Atex, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of software to the media industry.

A press statement issued by the company said that the system would allow JP to “develop further its converged newsroom strategy which creates a single environment for writing, editing, and producing content for both its newspapers and the web”.

It said that, when complete, the project will represent one of the largest implementations of a publishing CMS in the world.

Johnston Press group IT director Roger Davies said: “Developing further our converged newsroom strategy is very important to us.

“We recognised that in order to improve the user experience and to ensure we can place the right story on the right platform, we needed an integrated system that was flexible enough to meet the needs of our individual divisions but also robust enough to support the work load of all our separate divisions in one enterprise solution.”

The new system will also provide JP with the functionality to deploy new microsites.

Mr Davies added: “We realised that local and national events, such as the Olympic Games, which are coming to London in 2012, may require new websites dedicated to local athletes.”

Comments

Jp Worker (24/09/2009 09:23:17)
“Developing further our converged newsroom strategy is very important to us.”
You mean – “We want to cut more staff, scrimp and save and hope the public is stupid enough not to notice the shoddy product.”
This is just another kick enough kick in the teeth for the newsrooms. The future? A reporter who can make tea, sell adverts, work in reception, sub copy and work a printing system – oh, and not get sued in the process.
Memo to management – you’re destroying regional papers.

JP sub (24/09/2009 10:31:15)
Can HTFP please investigate this story further? Are ALL subs to be sacked or will some be kept on? How is it that at least one editor told his staff last week that he didn’t know anything at all about this system when plans for it were clearly extremely well advanced. Does this mean that some editors are not in the loop because they are also facing the chop? Would be sorry if that was the case as our editor is a super guy!

Ex JP sub (24/09/2009 11:42:06)
I can picture it now.
The pages are going to be filled with 300-word press releases that should have been spiked or subbed to 100 words.
There’ll be the same stories appearing twice a day and on subsequent days as reporters copy and paste from the archive to fill holes so they can get the paper done and go home.
Stories will be littered with mistakes, typos and legals, headlines won’t fit and the names in the captions and the stories won’t match up.
The next step will be to cut out the middlemen and have press officers email the stories directly onto the pages.
On the plus side, Johnson Press will have made a bigger profit, and the redundancies will mean more work for the dole office staff.

Doubter (24/09/2009 11:46:08)
as I approach retirement I do wonder what incentives there are for reporters to stay in the job. Where is the progression?
Tea pots (ours is now a coffee machine which we have to pay for) – ready!
Jp Worker has forgotten office cleaning, renewing toilet paper rolls, painting the walls….

Fox Mulder (24/09/2009 12:11:54)
Aye, subs are a goner I’m afraid.
I’ll get my application into Morrisons filled out now.

SUBjective (24/09/2009 12:26:38)
Management keep stating they don’t how many, if any, jobs will be lost – which is clearly nonsense. Surely even a company as badly run as JP wouldn’t invest huge amounts of money and time into a project like this without having a fair idea of the consequences? JP papers already look terrible thanks to years of non-replacement of staff and deletion of posts. It will only get worse. May as well just pull the plug now and not bother with the hassle of implementing a new system.

Ex-JP sub (another one) (24/09/2009 12:29:04)
JP has been threatening to kill off genuine journalism for years and it appears they will have succeeded if this is implemented. What a scourge on the industry this company is.

dave townley (24/09/2009 13:12:52)
The JP management don’t know what subs do. I know some in the Midlands read HTFP purely for our comments, so this is for you Mr Suit. We stop the likes of you getting sued. (Of course, that’s only part of it, but that’s the only bit they are interested in.)
Papers who get rid of subs also contribute to getting rid of readers. Oh dear, well done.

hack (24/09/2009 13:26:04)
Apart from sounding like a c**p idea which will cost jobs and not work nearly as well as is claimed, why does the announcement boil down to “we’ve got a new thingy that will do lots of stuff”? Are JP A) afraid to admit it will cost lots of jobs or B) like usually happens with editorial projects in all groups the people at the top don’t understand it and the IT lot have pushed it forward without talking to the people who will use the damn thing?

Mr_Osato (24/09/2009 13:36:22)
Wonder if anyone can translate Roger Davies’ quotes into English? Truth is, having a single system to manage copy, web, page layout and (if it must exist) video’n’audio, sounds quite practical.. It could also, of course, be used by a publisher that didn’t give a stuff about quality to axe jobs and give kids straight out of hack school even more responsibility that they aren’t trained or prepared for.

Hannah (24/09/2009 13:37:19)
I hope the reporters are asking for a pay rise for all the extra work they will be asked to do.
Ex JP sub: Since when are press releases “subbed” down to 100 words? They are either cut by reporters or news editors. Don’t get me wrong, good subbing can totally make a paper, but sometimes they credit themselves with doing things they just don’t do.

??? (24/09/2009 13:42:20)
So what’s the deal with layout subs? I suppose they will all be let go as well.

Fox Mulder (24/09/2009 14:01:56)
Hannah – agree with you entirely re reporters. However, I cut overwritten copy – sometimes cut-and-pasted press releases – on tighter than
a gnat’s whatsit pages every single day.

Wardy (24/09/2009 14:04:38)
As a JP reporter, I’m already doing about five other jobs – reception duties, sales, ads – for no extra pay because management refuse to replace staff, even if it would make them money. I can only assume, therefore, that if all or most of the subs are sacked and their responsiblities forced onto the reporters, management will just expect to get by on existing resources.
So many of my colleagues really love their jobs, but all the good ones are looking elsewhere because of the pressure JP is putting on them. Then who will be left to run these “converged newsrooms”?

JP Reporter (24/09/2009 14:52:23)
Agree Wardy – the management is a shambles. It’s all about the short-term and the measures taken are desperate. It’s insulting to presume that trained journalists are unable to read between the lines and see the real story here. This isn’t an “exciting” proposal, it’s an underhand cost-cutting measure made by people with no knowledge of what editorial staff do, nor what sells paper. In the long-term the newspapers, its staff and the readers are getting shafted.

retiredsubthankgod (24/09/2009 15:02:51)
Having just read the quote from Roger Davies but am still struggling to understand it, it seems obvious to me that it needs a good sub to put it into plain English ie; “We want to sack as many people as possible to make as much profit as possible and stuff the quality…”

??? (24/09/2009 15:08:23)
retiredsubthankgod – Spot on!

me (24/09/2009 15:09:39)
Johnston this morning… Trinity Mirror this afternoon

Dilbert (24/09/2009 15:12:18)
retiredsubthankgod : maybe you should ask one of the business or technology writers to help you out if you don’t understand; maybe it is jargon but

Trinity Mirror Staffer (24/09/2009 15:22:36)
What do you mean “Me”? Is something happening at Trinity Mirror that we on the payroll don’t know about yet?

Sickantired (24/09/2009 15:58:31)
retiredexsubthankgod….I think the word count can be reduced even more.
“We’ll make more money until the employee drops down dead from exhaustion.”

Rik Skegneti (24/09/2009 16:08:25)
First out of the door will be the subs, followed closely by the reporters. Copy will be provided by so-called “community reporters” – people with no journalism training. Does anyone here honestly think JP management care about the end product?

Stressed out (24/09/2009 16:50:24)
Having just had a presentation on this all-singing, all-dancing system (where the word ‘quality’ was not used once), it seems reporters will soon be subbing… with just training in the ‘basics’ of headline writing and copy subbing. Since when were the basics enough? Surely both skills are an art which take a long time to perfect?
In terms of more pay, the question was asked but no answer given…

gingernut (25/09/2009 10:17:29)
I can understand the cynicism and the track record of JP with its editorial staff does not bode well. However I work for a small publishing firm and you guys have just laid out my job description! Fact: in small publishing companies all these jobs are expected to be done by the management as well as the trainee journo to save costs. Sorry. By the way I’m not saying I agree this is the right way to do business!

Aled (25/09/2009 11:58:58)
Since JP are intent on producing rubbish, here’s another great way to ensure they meet their goal.

richard meredith (25/09/2009 13:56:45)
Quite rightly, this announcement by JP seems to have brought the biggest postbag I can remember on HTFP. Why? Because it is one of the most important you have ever published. The death of subs – and consequently the unfettered entry of a reporter’s copy directly into print – is the end of a principal in the writing profession. Not for nothing was the need for oversight established over many centuries – as JP’s misguided management will find in the months to come.Like them or lump them, editing is a necessary function and every self-respecting journalist should fight this development tooth and nail.

Central sub (25/09/2009 16:20:50)
We’ve already been messed about by JP through centralisation. They’ve put our jobs at risk once and want to do it again. Then they treat us with contempt by failing to reassure us over our jobs.
The central subs are under-staffed, the newsrooms are under-staffed and the managerial boardrooms are over-staffed.
The reporters make too many mistakes as it is. Where has the consultation been? We know for a fact the new system won’t work.

Soon-to-be-ex-sub (28/09/2009 12:56:59)
It’s been well over a decade since I had to sign on the dole. Is the old UB40/Unemployment Benefit system still valid, or is it all this new-fangled Income Support nowadays?
Guess we’ll be finding out soon enough.
Not much looking forward to having my home reposessed, but I guess that it’s still possible to get help with the cost of bed and breakfast accomodation.

Betrayed (28/09/2009 13:20:45)
Even a company as badly run as JP will know how many jobs are at risk before implementing this new system – yet they refuse to tell the staff. Maybe they’re scared that we’ll all leave before the system is up and working and they can push us out the door. JP – the way you treat your staff and the communities your products fail to serve is a disgrace!

??? (28/09/2009 14:44:23)
Betrayed – that is exactly what is happening. JP refuse to say how many people are being let go. They will leave it to the last minute so that they dont have to deal with people jumping ship early and attempting to find employment elsewhere.
It’s an absolute sickening disgrace.
I havent been on the dole in over 10 years myself – not looking forward to that at all.

FAST WOMAN (28/09/2009 15:32:43)
Yes, it’s tough without a proper job, but you do survive with a cleanish soul, somehow. Your integrity is intact. That helps a lot.
Is there any other industry where as many managements are so far divorced from their miserable workforces?
With no disrespect to advertising, you now rank just under the tele-ads folk.
The premise is, if advertising staff can make a box shape and drop some words in it by pressing buttons, so can you.
The number crunchers just want the minimum number of people to fill the maximum amount of space with something or other.
In regional press they are busy reducing what was a profession, requiring complex skills they refuse to acknowledge, to a badly paid call centre job.
All we can hope is that it comes back to bite them on the bum and that in years to come lively, high quality start-up websites and papers flourish and take away enough of the revenue.
Then the shark feeding frenzy will really begin… and I’m desperate to be a spectator to that one.

retiredsubthankgod (29/09/2009 09:17:42)
Look on the bright side…threatened JP subs can retrain as libel lawyers – there’ll be plenty of work them when reporters are let loose without restraint

ex-JP production editor (01/10/2009 09:41:59)
Is it just coincidence that the JP paper in Hastings has had to pay out in a libel case since making its last proper editor redundant?

Hacked off! (05/10/2009 13:32:43)
Regional newspapers R.I.P!

Em&En (05/10/2009 16:07:08)
RD says “We recognised that in order to improve the user experience and to ensure we can place the right story on the right platform, we needed an integrated system that was flexible enough to meet the needs of our individual divisions but also robust enough to support the work load of all our separate divisions in one enterprise solution.” . . . Integrated, poppycock . . . does he know he’s purchasing two systems knitted together . . . good luck chaps in the IT department . . . or is this a way of securing IT jobs . . . who chose this system, sorry these systems?

Ex-JP (14/10/2009 14:12:22)
As a former Divisional Director of Johnston Press, no longer working for the company, I find almost all of the comments on this art
icle to be the perfect demonstration of blinkered cynicism and ‘could’t give a damn about anyone else’ morales that editorial staff across the group became so reputed for.
Editorial departments have got off lightly in comparison to all other JP areas – for years. You have sat back and watched other departments take the brunt of cost efficiences and the introduction of new technologies and sneered with your ‘holier than thou’ attitudes whilst thinking management would never have the guts to tackle the most overpaid, underworked and ludicrously self-glorifying department that has blighted others for a very long time.
Your lack of compassion for others in recent years has been disgraceful. Your calls of ‘will we get more money’ are further demonstrations of your complete lack of understanding of any economic climate, the aims of any organisation or the plight of others.
As for ‘they don’t know what subs do’ – I worked in the press industry for over 15 years in senior roles and I can tell you exactly what subs do. A hell of a lot less than they should do.
Wake up and smell the roses. It couldn’t have come a day sooner.

The Smoking Man (20/10/2009 12:11:30)
It’s hard to tell if our ‘former Divisional Director of Johnston Press’ is simply an ‘internet troll’ with a very, very sick and disturbing sense of humour, or actually being serious? I would hope for the former, but if he is genuine–well it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out why he’s now a ‘former’ Director. Let’s just hope no other key industrys were infected with this guy’s particlar blend of poison.