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Newspaper offices to close as part of Scottish merger

Five local newspaper offices are set to close as part Trinity Mirror’s merger of its Scottish divisions into one.

Media Scotland was created last month and saw the merger of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail with Scottish and Universal Newspapers which has more than 20 weekly titles to its name.

The company has confirmed a number of changes this week which will see staff from some district newspaper offices moved to the Daily Record’s head office in Glasgow.

AllMediaScotland reports that in a memo to staff Mark Hollinshead, managing director of Trinity Mirror’s national newspapers division and also MD of Media Scotland, said that many of the offices were not fit for purpose and will be closed as a result.

These include offices at Dumbarton, Airdrie, Edinburgh, Irvine and Paisley.

Wrote Mark: “With the exception of Dumbarton, which will close at the end of February, the other offices will close at the end of March. As a result, some staff will transfer to Central Quay and some will transfer to other offices within our portfolio.”

The streamlining will also see 35 jobs at risk of redundancy. Those affected will include telesales staff, receptionists and those in merchandising.

It is also believed that all advertising staff will be moved to the Daily Record which will house a centralised telesales team.

Earlier this week we reported that four senior editorial roles were at risk as part of the restructure, with talks between staff and the company currently taking place.

Weekly titles that form part of the company include: Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, Wishaw Press, East Kilbride News, Rutherglen Reformer, Hamilton Advertiser, West Lothian Courier, Perthshire Advertiser, Blairgowrie Advertiser, Strathearn Herald, Stirling Observer, Dumfries & Galloway Standard, The Galloway News, Paisley Daily Express, Ayrshire Post, Irvine Herald, Kilmarnock Standard and Lennox Herald.

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  • January 12, 2012 at 2:03 pm
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    What happens when there is no more scope to chop? Any original ideas coming from the management team? No, I didn’t think so. Fit for purpose? No I don’t think so.

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  • January 12, 2012 at 5:18 pm
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    What happens? Journalists lose their jobs – rather than offices going. Nothing stays the same. Come the downturn, if that’s next, the papers will benefit from not having office costs weighing them down. Come the upturn, and hopefully that IS next, there is scope to progress if there are reporters still in place. The crown jewels are the people at the coal face, not tatty old offices in rundown town centres.

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  • January 13, 2012 at 11:04 am
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    Tucked well down the statement on this was the 35 job losses. Nice to see its staff figure so highly given the probable many years of hard work they’ve put in, and the endless good will. At the same time tm is expanding local deals ads- a failing area given the recent bad publicity for the market leader.

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