Almost half of the photographic team as the UK’s biggest regional daily are under threat of redundancy, it has been confirmed.
Five out of 12 photographer jobs are at risk at the Midland News Association, publisher of the Express & Star, Wolverhampton and the Telford-based Shropshire Star.
The NUJ has warned that further editorial cuts could be in the piepline at the MNA, which also publishes a number of weekly titles across the West Midlands.
The photographers understood to be under threat currently work across both the NMA’s main bases at Wolverhampton and Ketley, near Telford.
An MNA spokesman said: “Following a review of the photographic operation across the MNA, a restructure of the department is being proposed. We are currently in discussion with those affected with regard to potential voluntary redundancies.”
Last year the company announced 76 job cuts with 12 job losses in editorial and in 2011 the company cut 140 jobs.
Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands organiser, said: “MNA, which has a long history of commitment to real local news, has now joined the cult of newspaper groups looking to produce news with as little involvement of professional staff photographers as possible.
“These are dark days for an industry that used to celebrate the great gifts that quality pictures brought to illuminate the daily news agenda.
“With every attack on staff photography across the industry, it is clear to me that it is a case of ‘monkey see, monkey do’ for these clueless executives.
“Inevitably it leaves the titles and websites open to manipulation from vested interests over what images are available to them, reduces editorial independence and leaves the suspicion that to make up numbers required in desperation, pictures might be grabbed from the internet without the necessary permissions.
“But our members at MNA, who are often run ragged with stress and anxiety due to appalling workloads and unreasonable demands, now fear that this desperate cut is merely a precursor to other imminent editorial reorganisations and job losses.
“The company must come clean on its intentions and justify why it needs to hack away at its overstretched staff at the further expense of plummeted morale and individuals’ health.”
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Blimey union, calm down a bit! Sometimes a more reasoned comment is a better way to win the war than a massive rant. Has the NUJ ever made anyone redundant by the way?
I don’t agree with this move by bthe MNA or other groups, photographers are vital, but to just sit and rant and rave like this isn’t exactly a sign you intend on constructive dialogue.
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While there may well be a genuine issue for the NUJ to consult on here, and my sympathies go to those affected, the sixth-form ranting of Mr Morley does not help matters one iota. Maybe he could “come clean” on how many actual members he has at the MNA, my guess is less than ten per cent of the editorial headcount at best. As for his claim that staff are “run ragged with stress and anxiety due to appalling workloads and unreasonable demands” maybe he could organise a survey to see what people really think, to back this up. Well fancy that, he already did so last year and then refused to publish any positive comments about the company, of which there were many. Having worked at the MNA on-and-off for almost 30 years, I know staff there are treated far better than many other places in this flagging industry. The E&S still sets its sights high and has not succumbed to the drop in standards seen elsewhere. It is a good, serious regional newspaper and even Mr Morley seems to acknowledge that. A little maturity and responsibility from the NUJ wouldn’t go amiss either, instead of spreading hearsay and scare stories that will do nothing but cause unnecessary concern, although I doubt that crossed their minds for a moment. I have no idea what the MNA plans are. Neither, by his own admission, has Mr Morley. People should probably bear that in mind.
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The E&S and the Star succeed because of the professionalism of its staff. The Star in particular is an excellent example of what a real local newspaper should be. Management should not be looking at making people redundant but instead be looking at savings by dumping its appalling “Knowledge” editorial system.
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The NUJ release included these figures to help put my comments in context: “The latest accounts for MNA filed at Companies House for 2014 (attached) show they achieved the ‘third successive year of profit growth’ with a ‘better than forecast performance’. MNA also increased operating profits by 44% to £3.6 million on a ‘like-for-like basis’ (compared with the year before). The company also reported it had achieved a £2 million improvement in trading.
The accounts also show MNA has cut the average number of staff employed by 8% from 604 to 554, they have cut the budget for wages and salaries by nearly £770k and have also cut pension costs by £150k.”
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The latest trend to dump staff photographers at many newspaper groups is extremely short sighted and counterproductive. They are a soft touch for greedy owners to trim costs. However schemes such as UGC only devalue the product and put newspapers in competition with social media, a competition they can never win, especially at the prices charged for papers. The digital dream is quickly turning into a nightmare for the owners because they can’t monetise it sufficiently. Devaluing the product and lowering quality is the road to disaster. What annoys me is the way staff photographers are being dumped and taken back as freelances at much reduced rates as the owners ride a coach and horses through the Inland Revenue guidelines. It,s time some brave soul called them out on the bending of tax rules. Unfortunately the industry has been taken over by people who don’t have a clue how to run successful newspaper business,. Dumping photographers is only one of their crazy crazy schemes.
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I have to say, as someone who worked with Chris in the dim and distant, and who has subsequently admired his dedication to the cause of our union, and his tenacious efforts on behalf of members in the ever-dwindling regional sector, that those words sound as if for once, his passion and his frustration overcame his commonsense.
Saying that, I met several former E&S colleagues recently, and was dismayed to discover the no of occasions – and on major stories – when journalists were told to take pix on their phones, because no photographer was available, so further reductions in the pic desk staffing must lead to a deeper decline in quality.
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I don’t know who’s paid off people to write the above comments, but Morley is not wrong. Having worked there until relatively recently, morale is at rock bottom… But then, it has been for years. The endless, ever-growing pressure placed on editorial staff at the coalface (ie reporters and photographers) is nigh-on unbearable. Many staff who had been there years have now gone because of the tense atmosphere and angry exchanges between management and staff for not doing everything double the amount of staff did a couple of years ago. Seeing people in tears in the bathroom or on the way home is normal. People half-jokingly talk about how if they are lucky enough to break their leg or crash their car, they might get a few days off. This is awful news for the team still there and a sad day for what was, once, a truly great paper.
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Chris Morley is right – the ‘Star’ was the one paper hanging onto its long held local news traditions but if it goes the way of the ‘Mail’ it will become just a pale shadow of what it once was. When I think back of the outstanding photographers employed by the ‘Mail’ and see it now I wonder how much longer it can last.
Likewise the E and S, it too had outstanding people who are now going to be thrown overboard and in reality there is nothing anyone, not even the NUJ can do about it.
Only some kind of Government subsidy can now save our regional and weekly newspapers and at the same time safeguard local democracy!!! However, I do think the ‘Star’ is operating a knee jerk reaction as it made such a healthy profit!! I’m concerned about the future of our once great industry – Ken Jackson
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Can somebody explain what “sixth-form ranting” means?
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To correct the apparent misapprehension by DG and Ken, I am not suggesting Chris is wrong, merely that if you are hoping (at some point) for negotiations on any issue, then giving the company management a lengthy broadside in public is not a logical starting-point.
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Morale at MNA has been through the floor for a long, long time. Editorial staffing numbers have faced cut after cut, with experienced, senior staff who have had enough being replaced by junior reporters who won’t argue with what is being pushed on them.
The newspapers only still exist because those left work ridiculous hours and are still expected to cover everything that twice the number of staff covered a few years ago. If anyone tries to object, they are usually met with “It’s only an extra half an hour” with no consideration that all those half hours add up.
Trying to replace the skill and expertise of paid photographers with readers’ pictures and images stolen off Twitter (which have either been Photoshopped or run through Instagram) is incredibly short-sighted. It is like a restaurant sacking its chefs and replacing them with people who own a Jamie Oliver cookbook. A few years’ ago the Star ran a reader’s picture of snow on some hills when there was a light flurry in the country. This picture had inches of snow – because it had been taken three years earlier. We can probably expect to see more of that now!
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My thoughts are with those affected. They deserve better than being used as a political football by a union desperate to score points against an old enemy.
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I note that ‘Pete, London’ and ‘Ex-Star, West Mids’ prefer anonymity when airing their views about Chris Morley’s statement.
They really shouldn’t be so timid – nasty Management can’t get at them now.
They describe Mr Morley’s comments as “rant and rave” and “sixth-form ranting”, which suggests to me that they have not worked in the same editorial industry in which I spent more than 30 years.
The sort of language used in newsrooms in which I worked would have had them fainting in horror as the air turned blue – not to mention the cigar smoke
Believe me, dears, in comparison Mr Morley’s choice of expression is positively saintly.
They should allow Mr Morley the right to express his thoughts freely, and stop being silly.
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Johnston Press have been leading the way with photographic redundancies, with the results shown in the August ABC’s
Yorkshire Post, down 10.1%
Portsmouth News, down 13.2%
Scotsman, down 12.6%
Sheffield star, down 12.6%
Sunderland Echo, down 17.8%
Lancashire evening Post, down 11.9%
South Sheilds Gazette, down 19.1%
Doncaster star, down 25.2%
Hartlepool Mail, down 15.7%
Blackpool Gazette, down 13.8%
Yorkshire Evening post, down 16.1%
Most of the worst performing dailies were mainly JP papers propping the bottom of the table. JP share price is now 61p (yahoo website), giving a company value of £65m.
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I have left the coalface of journalism now having worked on on a number of daily titles but spent some time at the Express and Star until fairly recently. It was an experience I would certainly never want to repeat and although it may have looked good on your CV a few years ago I am not sure the paper is quite held in the same esteem that it used to be. Ex Star the Express and Star treats its staff worse than any other newspaper I have worked on. Fact, And i am sure if you spoke to any ex Express and Star reporter they would echo the same sentiments. It was a bad experience when i was there but has deteriorated even further under the current editor. Most of the experienced reporters are now long gone with the paper now opting to secure trainees and reporters with little experience as senior reporters worth their salt simply don’t want to work there due to its reputation. Long hours, a ridiculous workload in a fear culture is not appealing when there are better alternatives elsewhere. Despite the way editorial staff are treated at the Express and Star journalists and photographers continue to always show professionalism and dedication to the cause. They deserve huge Christmas bonuses this year and not the heavy axe of redundancy. I wish them all the best for the future.
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Dan… AH would have everyone believe that circulation falls are down to the public rejecting printed newspapers in favour of the new digital alternative, but that is NOT the real story. The fact is that if you lower the quality of your product by calling for UGC, using crappy templates, cutting staff, and in the case of photographers getting rid of them completely…then put the cover price up …then circulation WILL drop drastically. It just suits AH to spin this line to prop up his failing digital dream. Unfortunately the circulation to his brain has dropped too!!
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Yippeee … more money saved by another newspaper company bankrupt of ideas. As the rest of the lemmings line-up behind Ashley Highfield and his bunch merry men at JP, newspaper products across the country are now visually resembling parish magazines and commercial leaflets. I for one will not be going out of my way to buy a newspaper featuring photographs taken by my granny and next door neighbour. Would you pay good money to go to the cinema to watch a home movie? We’re in the the news, information and entertainment business up against platforms pumping out up to the minute 4KHD visuals …. and some newspapers are conning their customers with amateur blurry rubbish on newsprint. Don’t forget folks, it just words and pictures we flog, and quality words and pictures sell, rubbish doesn’t!
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More loyal staff disappearing from this once great institution. Once again Air Miles Inman and the fat cat management circus sitting pretty at the top! It can only be a matter of time. The Shropshire Star is Shropshire’s biggest joke! Can the last one out turn off the lights!
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I see the HUGE MNA pension deficit hasn’t made it yet as a story on Hold the front page?
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How sad! Why cut the photographers? Yet again the directors sitting pretty and untouchable! The CEO really needs to earn respect, and make a drastic cut at the top and quick! Countless directors and management in the floundering advertising department alone is farcical!
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