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Publisher reveals plan to close newspaper office

A regional publisher is planning to close a weekly newspaper office and ask staff to travel a 32-mile round trip each day to work from another base.

Newsquest’s Midlands South division is proposing to shut its Evesham office, where the Evesham Journal and Cotswold Journal are based, and ask all employees to move to its offices in Worcester, 16 miles away.

An announcement was made to staff on Monday by Worcester publisher Trevor Sallis who said the plans were part of a review of the business following a sharp downturn in the economy.

He said all staff will be given the opportunity to move and there are no planned reductions in jobs.

The announcement said: “There is currently a proposal which may lead to the closure of Evesham office.

“This proposal is part of a constant review of the needs of the business following a sharp downturn in the economy.

“If this proposal is adopted, all staff will be given the opportunity to move to Worcester and there are no planned reductions in staff numbers.

“All affected staff will be consulted over a three week period and any concerns they may have will be fully discussed and any alternative plans considered.”

Last year, the production of Newsquest titles produced in Stourbridge was centralised to an existing subbing hub in Worcester.

10 comments

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  • April 12, 2011 at 7:52 am
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    Sad news….just a few months after the Journal celebrated its 150th anniversary and all those years of publishing in Evesham. Newsquest certainly knows how to rip the heart out of its publications and demotivate staff

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  • April 12, 2011 at 10:52 am
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    That’s thoroughly daft policy-making with no thought given by the bean counters as to why the Evesham Journal actually has an office in – er – Evesham. Another nail in the coffin of real local news coverage – cos if it’s to be a genuine money-saving move, NQ aren’t going to allow the expense of reporters actually going out to cover the patch, are they?

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  • April 12, 2011 at 10:56 am
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    Newsquest have rivals in the de-motivation stakes. How about a company that cuts staff and brings in new (ill-prepared pointless and unreliable) systems that add to workloads, reducing quality?

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  • April 12, 2011 at 11:08 am
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    It’s the NQ way – the Evesham-based Cotswold Journal used to have an office in – the Cotswolds – there was once a Stratford Journal – in er – Stratford. Not to mention staff on its other ‘local’ papers in the region similarly treated . . .

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  • April 12, 2011 at 1:24 pm
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    This is once again due to a “a sharp downturn in the economy”. I won’t hold my breath that the papers will move back into their patches once NQ start making more money again.

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  • April 12, 2011 at 3:38 pm
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    When I started at the Wisbech Standard in 1969 the journalists had to live within the borough. Now the paper, owned by Archant, has no office in the town and is run from March, 10 miles away. Is this progress?

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  • April 13, 2011 at 10:26 am
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    Ade; spot on the lack of basic local knowledge of many reporters on evenings and weeklies is making the papers shallow and in some cases inaccurate. Too mnay live 20 miles away and have no real interest in the area they serve. bit like their head office management. But some of it is due to the “migrant” nature of modern journalism; people move around more (or get shoved around).

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  • April 14, 2011 at 2:31 pm
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    Sad news. Worded there in mid 80s just as four journos each with 50 years on the title were about to retire. I replaced three of them so my patch included Stratford-upon-Avon, Chipping Camden, Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton in Marsh et al. Yes, it was impossible; the start of telephone backside journalism for me. I soon left.

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  • April 14, 2011 at 5:54 pm
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    The late Bill Clarke took me on because of my local knowledge and good contacts. I was only 18 and straight out of school, as my name will show anyone with a knowledge of Evesham. Disgusted at this move, how Evesham and the towns beyond can possibly be covered from the concrete bunker in Worcester is anyone’s guess. Hope Evesham Town Council will make its views known, although will they be printed! Time will tell.

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  • April 18, 2011 at 9:20 am
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    Johnson Press are also selling the Northampton Chronicle & Echo Office.A 30 mile round trip to Kettering each day beckons.

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