Northcliffe Media today announced that the Lincolnshire Echo is to move from daily to weekly publication next month.
In an announcement that has been widely anticipated within the industry, the 118-year-old title becomes the fourth Northcliffe-owned daily to go weekly this summer.
It follows similar moves at the Torquay Herald Express, Scunthorpe Telegraph and Exeter Express and Echo, all of which are now weeklies.
The Echo is likely to be the last Northcliffe daily to go weekly in the current tranche of changes, which were triggered by new chief executive Steve Auckland’s portfolio review launched earlier this year.
Around five journalists’ jobs are at risk of redundancy as a result of the change, out of a total editorial staff of around 28.
In addition the deputy editor, Martin Mammatt, has been made compulsorily redundant.
The final edition of the daily Echo will be published on Friday 14 October, with the new paid-for weekly launched on Thursday 20 October.
Echo acting editor Steven Fletcher said the new-look weekly title would be a “paper of substance” which could run to up to 184-pages.
He said: “For many years the Lincolnshire Echo has been at the heart of the community in Lincolnshire. This will remain so.
“Reading habits have changed so much and the Echo is moving with the times. People still want to know what’s happening in their area and our news coverage will be more comprehensive than ever.
“We will continue to campaign on behalf of our readers, and hold individuals and public bodies to account.
“But we will also have the chance to offer much more content to readers. There will be more analysis of important issues, we are introducing new columnists and topic areas into the paper, and will give the readers a paper they keep coming back to.
Mark Price, managing director for Lincolnshire Media Group, added: “This is a significant change for the business and a major step forward for advertisers in Lincolnshire.
“A number of jobs are likely to be affected as a result of the move, but the Lincolnshire Echo management team has pledged to do everything it can to limit the number of compulsory redundancies.”
Steven also paid tribute to Martin who leaves after 16 years with Northcliffe titles, the majority of which was spent at the Echo.
“He has been a great servant to the paper, and is a popular member of the staff. The decision to make the position redundant was not taken lightly, and he really will be missed in the newsroom,” he said.
Steven, who is also deputy editor of the Nottingham Post, remains acting editor of the Echo pending a permanent appointment.
The previous editor, Jon Grubb, left earlier this summer to pursue other projects shortly after the potential switch from daily to weekly was first mooted.
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Isn’t this exactly what was said when Scunny went weekly? Why print quotes like this? They don’t mean anything, especially talk of exciting times. PEOPLE ARE NOT AS STUPID AS YOU BELIEVE! That’s at the heart of this once great industry’s miserable decline.
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And the top man was in a few weeks ago to tell them that no decisions had been made.
If that’s the case I have never known the wheels of officialdom move so quickly.
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Such a shame. A great paper killed by lazy, short sighted and uninvolved management. Northcliffe is a giant leech sucking the life blood from good local papers like the Echo. Shame on them.
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I just wish someone would avoid the party line that this is a great development, it will make things better, we’ll be more ‘comprehensive’ etc.
Surely if this was such a good idea, it would have been done in the good times. It is a reaction to dwindling circulation and sadly there is no alternative plan other than cuts, both staff and of papers themselves.
Why oh why does no one say what a sad day it is and how regrettable it all is.
And if reading habits have changed, that other cliched line, why aren’t all the papers doing it? Are they saying the reading habits of individuals have only changed in the areas where the paper is relatively small?
Just say it … it’s about profits.
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I used to work for Northcliffe but do not know any of the people involved here. Sacking a deputy editor seems bizarre, but it is interesting that the acting editor is also (!) deputy editor on another paper. Strange days…………
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A sad day but not unexpected. Good luck for the future Mr Mammatt – you are a pleasure to work with. Likewise the two previous editors and all their staff.
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it appears Mr Auckland has armed each of his spokespeople with the same script about ‘reading habits’ ‘offering more content’ when it comes to going weekly – next I’m guessing is the Gloucestershire echo…..
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Shame to see yet more titles shifting to weekly publication but the Echo hasn’t made money in a long time.
Here’s hoping the Hull Daily Mail manages to retain its place as the daily source of local news!
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In fairness the Lincolnshire Echo has a very small circulation and has for a long time. This is perhaps not helped by the fact that the paper does not cover stories nor serve potential readers in Lincolnshire. Despite its title The Echo is a paper for Lincoln and not the county. Nevertheless, it’s a sad day for the industry and the staff and the paper – particulaly those who will stay and joined for the kudos of working on a daily.
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Sad but inevitable and galling for the many people who have worked so hard for the Echo over the decades. Newspapers once championed the cause of the underdog now they simply serve the interests of the privileged and powerful.
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Sad news for a great paper. All the best to Martin, who is a cracking bloke. Best of luck to everyone at the paper.
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Be realistic. This move is keeping the Echo going. The powers that be could have opted to kill the whole thing, instead they are doing the best to preserve it and ensure it has a future. Job losses are sad, but at least it’s five and not a lot more. Congratulations to the team for ensuring that the Echo will continue for many years to come. I myself am looking forward to seeing the new-look paper and am pl3eased my local paper will still have a voice in the city.
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Like others have said, funny how the same spiel is wheeled out repetitively from Northcliffe top brass – whatever the crisis, whatever the ‘improvement’, whatever the latest cost-cutting idea is. During the time I worked for Northcliffe, it became such an endless cliche writing those same old meaningless words “at the heart of…..” that it almost became amusing.
And as for Dave’s comment, Northcliffe are ultimate pros at playing their cards close to their chest, answering no questions from worried staff, until that magical moment when their plans are in place and they sudden lead balloon!
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Gary,
The situation with the Cheltenham-based Glos Echo (circ 16,000) is slightly different as it is produced in tandem with another daily covering Gloucester (The Citizen, circ 21,000).
If any changes are made, it could be that the papers merge or the Echo becomes an edition of The Citizen. Either way, jobs will no doubt be lost in the process…
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To be fair the Lincolnshire Echo has always had a low circulation and despite its name it only features stories on Lincoln and not the county. It’s a shame that there will soon be no daily paper in the whole of Lincolnshire left. I expect the Grimsby Telegraph to follow suit soon – that’s also a Northcliffe paper.
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Terrible news for the hard working team at the Echo who have been battling on admirably despite being hugely demoralised by years of cuts, the move of the subs to the Hull hub and uninspiring management.
Good luck to those who are made redundant, and just as much good luck to those who stay. Be warned, there may only be “five” redundancies now, but in six months to a year management will decide they can get by with fewer staff and a couple more will go, then another batch in another year’s time, and so on and so on.
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Five editorial jobs from a staff of about 28 are at risk. That means the new weekly will have an editorial staff of about 23. How long will that last? Most weeklies exist on an editorial staff of less than half that number. I hope I’m wrong, but I suspect a pre-Christmas staff cull is coming.
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To be honest the centre “MD’s” are really nothing of the sort these days! They have just become “pen pushers” with ABSOLUTELY NO commercial leverage within NM at all.
Once they ditched the regional MD’s (only one of whom had any real strategic insight anyway) no authority was left within the regional set up. However the greys ( the yes people – got to be pc too) always seem to stay in place – funny that!
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Some of the comments here are ridiculous. Yes, the paper is going weekly, but it’s a strategy that will ensure its survival. Speculation about more job losses are unfair on those staying. Yes, mock the higher powers, but maybe those based within the Echo have its best interests at heart and are determined that keeping hold of the great wealth of talent based there is the best practice for ensuring the new weekly paper is informative, passionate, well informed and excellently written. Too many of you are harking back to the good times in regional journalism. face facts, those days are gone, and I think that the current team are doing there best to ensure that the Echo is still a very strong presence in Lincoln. I am an avid reader and must say the last few weeks have been a revelation. I felt that the Echo had been treading water at times, but I think that staff finally have a roadmap for the future and recently it seems reporters, feature writes and photographers have been putting some real effort in. It’s newsworthy again and I believe that the current team can convince the doubters that a weekly newspaper can be even more valid to the community than a daily that just treads water and sheds readers. Give them time, see what is produced, let them bed into the new way of working then be judge, jury and executioner
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totally agree peter. Give the team a chance. The Echo may get a new lease of life from the move to weekly. Not a bad move. They have good writers who may turn in even better copy now they have more time. Too many ex employees on here are just bitter!
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PG Midlands – another apologist for this pitiful industry and a poor newspaper group. There’s always one defends the indefensible. Ever been on Fighting Talk? I’d back you any time
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Former Northcliffe Employee (HDM), what are you talking about? Lincolnshire Media does make money. In fact, as I understand it, it’s the loss-making weeklies that drag down the profits being made by the daily Echo. Forcing it to compete in an already saturated weekly market before axing it’s related loss-making titles seems ridiculous, but maybe that’s on the way too!
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da echo going weekly is cool wiv me. Still on da net. As long as they still do local footie. Ma team have been in loadz. Will deffo still buy it. Save me dollars 2.
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Harold,I talk truth. I’m giving it a chance before shooting down something that hasn’t happened yet. It’s a good paper that is getting a new lease of life. What would you rather happen? Let it roll on, lose loads of cash and close! They’d all lose their jobs then! Get real and embrace change. It’s not the 80s. People are working hard to preserve a quality product. Back them, not shoot them down. It’s up to them to make this work and I believe they will. God bless.
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Maybe you are right Peter. I can back the individual journalist, the person who works hard to feed their family. But not these DOUBLETHINK MD’s and executives who are not journalists and never have been (Mr Price, I know, certainly has never been one). To claim the product will improve is just a lie. It will be like buying a Sunday newspaper: full of out of date commentary, written to be timeless; ‘scoops’ that aren’t; chocful of supplements that most people chuck in the bin; OUT OF DATE. Not the journalists’ fault, admittedly. So yes, good luck to Joe Average sub/ journalist (some of whom will be lost from the sweatshop hub at Hull). Bigwigs, just don’t try to insult our intelligence which is all you have done for the past X years.
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PG, Midlands, I agree the new weekly could be a really good product. Knowing the staff there as I do, they will do everything they can to make the best of it. But this news is still a kick in the proverbials for them.
You are also right that talking about further job cuts is only speculation. However, this is not unfair on the staff remaining as from what I’ve heard they are themselves speculating about and fearing further cuts. Unfortunately Northcliffe has a history of telling their staff after a round of cuts that everything is now okay and people are safe, then coming back for more blood six months down the line.
This has left staff seriously demoralised as they are always fearful of when the axeman will emerge again.
It is going to take some very inspirational leaders to keep the team together in these circumstances. Hopefully there are one or two people there who can do this, but I doubt it.
I expect the new weekly will be an excellent product for around a year, but inevitably more cuts will come and the quality of the product, as with the daily, will fall, despite the best efforts of the staff. I really hope I am proved wrong.
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I’d put money on the fact that the Echo will not have 23 editorial staff twelve months from now.
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Re Glos speculation: If anything happens there at all I’d expect it to be the Echo that goes weekly, covering the whole Shire as it nearly does now, and the Citizen to become the evening paper for the Glos-Cheltenham axis. There’s precious little difference in coverage already; it’s a case of big Glos news stories going in the Cit first and the Echo a day later and vice-versa.
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The tragedy is that by the time the bigwigs realise this is a mistake it will be far too late.
I wish Northcliffe would try to flog all of its newspapers instead of just destroying them.
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Observer, why put money on that? Why can’t we let each case be judged on its own merit. If the team pulls this off and produces a sound, well-written weekly publication maybe revenues will rise. Content is king, and the people of Lincoln might be more interested in reading a good, solid publication every seven days than a weekly offering. If that’s the case, which it could well be, why would staffing levels be reduced? Yes, a lot of us lost jobs in the industry, but it hardly seems very supportive that we want everyone else to fail. I’d encourage these journalists to do a good job and maybe inspire a revival in regional publications. Surely, that can only be a good thing. Any success story may inspire the top bosses to invest more in regional papers again. Profits speak louder than words in this game. Show your support!! Back the team.
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