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Editor's role axed as part of 'Newsroom 3.1' changes

The executive editor of four weekly titles owned by Trinity Mirror has left the business following the introduction of its digital-first newsroom blueprint.

Until last month, Linda Roberts was executive editor of the North Wales Weekly News, Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald, Holyhead and Anglesey Mail and Bangor Mail.

However her role ceased to exist under the changes introduced as part of the ‘Newsroom 3.1′ initiative and Linda opted to take redundancy.

Mark Thomas, editor of the North Wales Daily Post, had earlier assumed overall editorial responsibility for the four titles in addition to his existing role.

Newsroom 3.1 has been rolled out across Trinity Mirror’s regional centres throughout the course of this year and has resulted in a net gain in editorial roles in some centres.

However when it was implemented in Liverpool and North Wales in October it resulted in the loss of around seven jobs.

A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: “Linda’s role was no longer required due to the recent newsroom 3.1 restructure rolling out across Trinity Mirror’s regional titles.

“Linda chose to take redundancy and leaves with our very best wishes.”

Until 2009 she was editor of the Holyhead & Anglesey Mail but then added the Caernarfon Herald to her portfolio.

She was the first woman editor of the Herald and oversaw the paper’s 180th anniversary two years later.

Eventually she took on the weekly News and the Bangor Mail, helping oversee its relaunch in 2011 as a fully-paid for title.

Earlier this year, Linda helped lead the 125th anniversary celebrations of the North Wales Weekly News.

23 comments

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  • December 2, 2014 at 9:36 am
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    Who needs an editor? Come to think of it, who needs journalists when an enthusiastic public can paste in their own stories online from the comfort of their homes? Hey, I’m onto something here… get me the accounts department.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 9:50 am
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    So the latest TM wheeze is to create a new tier of regional MDs – but then to can someone looking after four titles.
    Hmm …

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  • December 2, 2014 at 10:04 am
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    Any chance of Trinity licensing Newsroom 3.1 to Loco World down here? We’re without an editor around the place most of the time anyway….

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  • December 2, 2014 at 10:18 am
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    Who’d be an editor these days? It used to be a respected role that young journalists aspired to. Now, the editor’s chair is the one nearest the door.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 10:40 am
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    More great newspapers that are going to become an afterthought under Trinity’s new ‘structure’.

    Wonder how quickly they’ll be run into the ground and closed in this brave new world.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 11:07 am
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    Newsroom 3.1. I love modern society and its many foibles. (Need a sub!)

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  • December 2, 2014 at 11:12 am
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    Surely 2014 will be year when the tipping point was reached in digital taking over from print. Not in making proper money but in priority from management. Print will survive for a while as the poor relation.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 12:20 pm
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    Poor relation? Been that for decades!
    But we had 144 web hits yesterday!!

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  • December 2, 2014 at 12:21 pm
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    Newsroom 95 can’t be far away. Complete with plug and play compatibility, but no internet connection if you live in the sticks.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 12:48 pm
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    An increasing move to digital is inevitable – but it seems to be an excuse to dumb down journalism even more. Why can’t we have quality digital journalism like we used to have quality print journalism? Oh I almost forgot. The answer is that you have to pay for quality.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 12:48 pm
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    No editors eh? Wow. It’s like watching the Hindenburg heading for a set of pylons.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 3:54 pm
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    Northern hack. You are so right. It’s cheap to fill websites with young inputters who are not good writers or journos but are IT savvy. That’s all that counts. Some of the English on webs of JP, Newsquest, Trinity et al is laughable, but who checks it before it goes up?

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  • December 2, 2014 at 4:08 pm
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    Ye Gods! Having culled hundreds of journalists in a bid to cut costs and maximise profits the fat-cat managers ( and not just at TM) are shedding editors like confetti. The rapid decline and slow death of regional journalism continues and it plays out at as horrifying spectacle for those of us who recall when it was a noble trade respected and rewarded by proud proprietors.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 4:50 pm
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    There’s nothing some MDs (regional or otherwise) like less than a long-serving editor who still carries some weight, often in every sense, even if they’re the ones desperately striving to keep the quality of their products up. Give them grateful young yes-people, who know their place in this digital world, every day of the week! Being an editor these days is more precarious than being a football manager…maybe HTFP can do some research to find out how many have left/been booted out in 2014? And who speaks for this endangered breed? No-one.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 4:50 pm
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    Decently written copy is merely Baroque self-indulgence in the age of textspeak and piscine reader attentions spans. Think of the bigger picture. Getting rid of all the subs might mean you get sued more often, but settling out of court will cost you per year, on average, less than paying a subs’ desk. Simple economics. Which is, of course, the only kind the management can understand.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 5:09 pm
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    Come on guys. Let’s face reality The bean counters won’t be satisfied until the office cat is in charge of everything.

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  • December 2, 2014 at 6:39 pm
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    A similar thing happened to me as to LInda. Guess what? – I learned to smile again!!!

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  • December 2, 2014 at 6:49 pm
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    What newsrooms need are well trained professional staff, not someone getting paid tons to oversee the operation and report back to HQ. Now they are offering jobs to kids to put up stories online and create content. The BBC have pride to use decent pros, why can’t regionals and weeklies?

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  • December 2, 2014 at 7:14 pm
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    Let’s see if I’ve got this right: Roberts goes due to changes and Thomas takes over doing… well, what she’s been doing.
    I agree with Prodnose – it looks like the only possible reason for chopping one who does the job and getting another in to do the job is the good ‘ol bottom line: ‘in addition to other duties.’ means it don’t cost so much; two jobs out of one dude costs less that one each from two.
    Step forward, the office cat (if Health & Safety allowed such a creature to exist these days).

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  • December 2, 2014 at 7:52 pm
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    Once upon a time the North Wales Weekly News was one of the finest weeklies in Britain. In this brave new world of the Unholy Trinity it no longer has the dignity of an editor to call its own. So dispiriting for the loyal staff. Should anything go wrong, who is accountable?

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  • December 3, 2014 at 9:48 am
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    I’m sure you do Up North, and you’re probably good at it too. But any day the MD could be in touch with news of your next ‘exciting’ restructure. And that’s no way to treat staff at any level. If I was an editor these days I’d be planning life after journalism now, because they’re an endangered species. That’s not good for papers, journalists, or the communities they serve, but that’s what’s happening.

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  • December 3, 2014 at 9:51 am
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    Up north. I hope you are the sort of editor who fights for quality rather than being a toady to the next layer of management. I worked for a wonderful editor who got so sick of meddling by incompetents in head office he quit.

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