AddThis SmartLayers

Union working on plan to safeguard jobs at daily

The Bristol branch of the National Union of Journalists is to put forward alternative plans regarding the future of Bristol daily The Post.

Publisher Northcliffe Media has announced it is axeing the title’s Saturday edition and entertainments magazine Venue resulting in the loss of up to 20 jobs.

The NUJ staged a demonstration against the plans last Tuesday outside an exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the newspaper.

Afterwards Paul Breeden, chair of the union’s Bristol branch of the NUJ, said it was working on an alternative set of proposals that would safeguard the threatened jobs.

Said Paul: “We were really impressed with the fact that Bristol people are now very alive to the fact that their local paper is being hollowed out, and what this will mean for the reporting of their communities.

“We’ll be working with the chapel to put forward alternatives to the plans, and thinking how to capitalise on the support journalists have from the community.”

The NUJ has claimed that all eight photographers at the newly-renamed Post will be made redundant and may then be re-employed on a freelance basis.

A month-long consultation over the proposed job losses began last Wednesday.

Added Paul: “At last many people – not just journalists – seem to realise that newsgathering in our city under the control of Northcliffe is approaching a crisis point.”

Northcliffe Media had not responded to requests for a comment at the time of publication.   At the time of the original announcement, publisher Alan Renwick said the changes would lead to a “more focused and flexible set of publications more closely aligned to our customers.”

 

One comment

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • April 23, 2012 at 11:15 am
    Permalink

    Don’t you just love management twaddle?
    A Saturday edition is part of the fabric of life in Bristol for decades… until ditching becomes expedient and suddenly they are doing readers a favour by getting rid of it.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)