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Up to 20 jobs at risk at regional daily in new production hub move

Ian-Murray12Up to 20 production roles could be lost as part of changes at a regional daily newsroom, staff have been told.

Sub-editing, sports subbing and page production roles are set to be lost at the Southern Daily Echo’s offices in Southampton, if the proposals go ahead.

Parent company Newsquest plans to transfer most of the production of its Hampshire titles to its Weymouth subbing hub with the introduction of the Knowledge editorial system.

Some functions will also be carried out in Newport, South Wales.

Two production design editor roles will be created to be based at the Echo’s Redbridge headquarters, with the possibility of “one or two” more jobs also being created.

However, it is understood up to 20 staff could be at risk of redundancy as part of the plans.

The news follows last month’s announcement that three editorships in Hampshire would be lost with all three titles being overseen by Echo editor and Newsquest Hampshire editor-in-chief Ian Murray, pictured above left.

The Hampshire Chronicle’s Keith Redbourn and the Romsey Advertiser Andrew Ross were set to be axed in the cuts, while no replacement would be sought for the vacant chair left by Mark Jones’s departure from the Basingstoke Gazette.

It was also revealed in February that the Echo’s picture editor and deputy picture editor are at risk of redundancy.

Since Newsquest began implementing the Knowledge system across its titles, production duties have been moved to central bases at Newport and Weymouth from centres across the country.

The process of moving to the new system in Hampshire is expected to begin in mid-April and finish in the summer.

In an announcement made to Newsquest Hampshire staff on Friday, Ian said the move was being made “to improve operational efficiency and save costs”.

He said: “As a result of these changes the company is proposing to create two new production design editor roles to be based at Redbridge.

“There may also be a requirement for one or two additional roles to carry out some aspects of design that may remain at the Southampton office.

“Details of any additional roles will be made available during the consultation period along with details of how to apply.

“Should this proposal go ahead this would result in the loss of production roles at the Southampton subbing hub.”

A consultation period on the proposals began yesterday with a final announcement set to be made at 4pm on 8 April.

Ian added: “All editorial staff in the region will be informed of what the introduction of the Knowledge system will mean to them, working practices and how training will be provided in the coming days.

“I would like to thank everyone in anticipation for their patience and understanding whilst we finalise the proposed restructuring process.”

18 comments

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  • March 10, 2015 at 4:21 pm
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    As I posted at the end of last year, 2015 will be full of these demoralising stories as our world continues to implode. Good luck to all affected.

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  • March 10, 2015 at 4:32 pm
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    Ah. The much glorified answer to all ills “subbing hub.” Those few staff left working for JP will remember its finest moments. As for Newsquest I read somewhere “A little Knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

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  • March 10, 2015 at 5:19 pm
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    I am awaiting with interest a power cut, fire, or flood at one of these wonderful hubs. All that day’s papers will be lost and the suits will be running around like headless chickens wondering what to do.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 9:00 am
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    So the User Generated Content Editor roles – better known as Twitter or Facebook – are to be surpassed by a subbing hub 40 miles away. They will need the Knowledge down in Weymouth because local knowledge will be bon existent when subbing Southampton stories.
    Why not go the whole hog and just replace the team with London cabbies? They do the knowledge and usually have a good story to tell

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  • March 11, 2015 at 9:43 am
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    What an absolute shower the people in charge at Hampshire are. No wonder sales have fallen off a cliff. They deserve to.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 10:47 am
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    Dearie me!
    Those at the top continue to find ever more effective and inventive ways to slash key staff.
    This story should send a shudder down the spines of local newspaper sports desks across the country because if the bosses get away with this one on the south coast, (and no reason to think they won’t), they’ll be coming for you next.
    Local sports desk staff have previously, and rightly, seen themselves as indispensable.
    But then we used to think that about photographers, sub-editors and even editors, didn’t we?
    If we fast forward a year or two, will we see ever more UGC sports copy (written by fans not journalists) being remotely subbed by those with no local Knowledge or affinity with local sport at all?
    For the very first time, sadly, I’m beginning to think so.
    I see a future which leaves our swivel-eyed leaders over the moon at costs cut and local sports journalism as sick as a parrot! A dead parrot.
    Final score: Paper Wreckers United 1 Sports Journalism Rovers 0.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 10:55 am
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    Well, I think we all know what will be said in the final announcement. All that knowledge, all that experience, all those skills just wiped out. And for what? It certainly isn’t going to improve things. My heartfelt sympathies and best wishes to all those who will be losing their jobs.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 1:48 pm
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    The only thing I find surprising is that he doesn’t call it “an exciting development”.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 3:27 pm
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    It is my understanding, (and do please correct me if any believe me to be wrong), that newly appointed Page Designers at Weymouth are being offered a salary of just £15,000pa. And, sadly, this really does get to the nub of things. The essence of being a Page Designer utilising the Knowledge system (which provides preconceived templated pages) is that no journalistic input is required at that stage. In other words, it becomes an admin role and, therefore, attracts an admin salary! The idea behind it is that reporters submit copy and headlines on a ‘right first time’ ethos. Content Editors, in addition to writing their own copy, are required to sub/check their reporters’ copy prior to being submitted to page. The consequence is that publishers can remove a complete strata of staff including editors, productions editors and sub editors. It does not take a genius to conclude that this system involves a complete dumbing down of quality journalism. But that is what publishers have bought into. Senior journalists are being made redundant because publishers know that diligent, experienced, journalists will not countenance such a backward step in provincial journalism. This, I believe, is the simple truth.

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  • March 11, 2015 at 5:07 pm
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    I think the big scandal is the poor redundancy package being offered

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  • March 12, 2015 at 10:26 am
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    Steve Hutchings: Agreed, the Knowledge system is awful, but Newsquest is hiring copy subs NOT page designers. The salaries offered are a disgrace and (I repeat) the Knowledge system is rubbish and obviously designed by people that don’t use it :o(

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  • March 12, 2015 at 10:34 am
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    The problems faced by Mr Highfield and other British regional newspaper managers is essentially the same problem that has faced such managers for the last 40 years. That problem, in a nutshell, is how to manage decline. Before the advent of the Internet, that decline was probably manageable into what appeared then to be the foreseeable future. Although the regional press’ stranglehold on the local advertising market was becoming increasing tenuous, it was strong enough to yield tremendous profits.

    At a stroke, almost, the advent of the Internet, destroyed that strategy. Only the very quick, the very slick and the crooks were ever going to prosper here.

    Unfortunately, British regional newspaper managements fell into none of those categories; thus leaving Mr Highfield and his contemporaries to pick up the mess and playing an increasing difficult game of catch-up Just to add to their woes they were required to balance sets of increasingly bleak books.

    That they chose a policy of slash and burn and were seduced so easily by vendors offering them a new and cheaper way of working is hardly surprising.

    Then they chose to add to the troubles by piling the pain on their dwindling readerships. Down went the quality almost in direct proportion to the increase in prices of their products.

    The result, if you look at the circulation figures, is that the regional newspaper audience is down to its hard-core loyalists. The problem is that they are not immortal. Like it or not regional newspaper print circulations are on a final march to the grave.

    So what is to be done. The answer is “not a lot”. Despite the lies, damned lies and statistics that seek to prove otherwise, moving online will not save the British regional press in anything like a worthwhile form. To do that, you have to be able to charge for your product. It is no measure of success to point to the number of clickabillies who hit free newspaper websites; any more than it is viable for Asda to base their profit figures on the footfall through their supermarkets.

    It is hard to say it, but I am afraid that the best days of the British regional press lie in the past. Those who long for the glory days would be better served wrapping themselves like chips in nostalgic newsprint and having a good old wallow.

    I really wish Mr Highfield et al all the luck in the world, but their chances of restoring the fortunes of the regional press beyond the shadow of its former self are simply astronomical.

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  • March 12, 2015 at 11:29 am
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    Sutler, one of the best comments I’ve ever seen on here. Everyone, whether they are working in print or digital, needs to face the truth.

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  • March 12, 2015 at 12:33 pm
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    Sutler and Kendo spot on. What we hear now are the death rattles – the local press as an employing industry and viable career option is gone. Just watch this website’s space for the rest of 2015.

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  • March 12, 2015 at 2:07 pm
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    The newspaper print industry is hastening its decline by throwing standards out the window.

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  • March 12, 2015 at 2:14 pm
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    The tragedy of the present situation is that youngsters are still being trained en masse for journalism careers that mostly do not exist. Every time I hear a bright teenager say “I am doing a journalism course at university”, I wonder if they are aware of the absymal pay and conditions should they be fortunate enough to get a job.

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  • March 12, 2015 at 7:06 pm
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    Quality regional journalism went down the pan several years ago in many parts of the country. This is due to properly trained, highly skilled staff who knew what they were doing being discarded in regular “head count reductions” or dispirited and demoralised journos fleeing the industry to do non-newspaper jobs or retire. The consequence was readers finding little to make them need to buy local papers and circulations dropping rapidly. That downward spiral many of us have experienced. Now, many papers have too few subs who can turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse and newsrooms are being run by news editors and chief reporters who have just two or three years experience and who haven’t benefited from being guided by an knowledgeable mentor.

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  • March 18, 2015 at 4:26 pm
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    At any salary, eight hours a day of text subbing will be soul-destroying…

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