Regional publisher Newsquest is to close its production hub in South Wales with the loss of 14 jobs, the company has announced.
The subbing centre in Newport was responsible for copy-editing of scores of weekly and daily titles across the UK and at once point employed more than 70 people.
However much of the work has now moved to a sister hub in Weymouth and the publisher has now decided to centralise its operations there.
All copy-editing will cease in Newport from 7 April with the work transferred to Weymouth from 10 April.
The move means the equivalent of 13.85 full-time roles in Newport are now at risk of redundancy and a formal consultation period began yesterday.
A Newsquest spokesman said: “Due to an improvement in workflow across all of our newsrooms, the workload has reduced significantly within the Group Editorial Services Copy Editing function.
“With so much of newspaper copy-editing work now no longer being required – specifically because our journalists are now writing stories straight to page – it is anticipated that the copy-editing department in Newport will not need the same staffing levels going forward.
“While this proposal regrettably places 13.85 FTE roles at risk of redundancy, we continue to employ a significant number of staff for other group editorial services in Newport.”
The proposal was originally outlined in an announcement to staff from regional production manager Carl Blackmore which has been seen by HoldtheFrontPage.
He said: “As you are aware we continue to face difficult trading conditions with sustained pressure on the profitability of the business.
“The company continues to look at all functions and disciplines across the business and where appropriate implement re-organisations or consolidations of functions so as to deliver efficiencies and reduce costs.
“Since the introduction of the ‘Write to Shape’ project the workload has reduced significantly within the Group Editorial Services Copy Editing function.
“With so much of newspaper copy-editing work now no longer being required, it is anticipated that the copy-editing department will not need the same staffing levels going forward.”
“Following a review of the costs of each of the two copy-editing hubs, it is proposed that all copy-editing work will cease to continue in Newport with effect from 7th April 2017.
“All content is proposed to be copy-edited in the Weymouth hub from 10th April 2017 in order to achieve the most efficient and cost-effective process.
“Unfortunately, this proposal places all 13.85 FTE roles in Newport at risk of redundancy with effect from Friday 7th April 2017.
“As with any reorganisation, it is the policy of the company to avoid unnecessary redundancy wherever possible and in an effort to do so it will undertake a consultation process with you to discuss potential ways of doing so.”
National Union of Journalists national organiser for Wales John Toner described the decision as a “huge blow.”
“The company has shed many of its experienced and talented sub-editors on titles across the UK and has now ditched the dedicated editing team in Newport,” he said.
“The plan, if this company can be thought to have any plan apart from having no strategy except cutting jobs, appears to be to off-load editing back to titles in Scotland and the North, which are woefully under-staffed, and to the hub in Weymouth.
“This has been a disastrous experiment for all involved. The NUJ will ensure its members at the Newport hub are fully supported.”
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Feel sorry for the staff involved. Always annoys me the way the suits trot out the ‘difficult trading conditions’ as though we’re in the midst of some great depression outside of their control, what they should really say is ‘despite our handsome wage packets, we’re not very good at this stuff’.
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“…..newspaper copy-editing work now no longer being required..”
On the contrary,have you seen the quality of copy being published these days?
with so many keyboard tappers,social media scrapers,facebook,”can we nick your photo” email pleadersand `content` chruners replacing time served editorial people,theres never been more need to employ subs than there is now
another axe weilded through an entire department whilst money continues to be wasted in other departments,shocking
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Sympathies go out to the ever-growing list of people within the industry facing potential redundancy.
I’d be interested to know what, if any, back-up plan NQ has if for whatever reason its Weymouth hub was out of action.
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Seriously, are there any quality journalists, subs and editors left in the regional press? or has the rich stock been diluted so much by offloading experienced people in favour of inexperienced trainees and newbies?
If that’s the case and I suspect it is,this is tantamount to removing the safety net and inviting errors, inaccuracies and problems with workloads increasing and the pressure to get it right on time every time and as quickly and cheaply as possible pushing already creaking sub hubs to breaking point
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Yet more colleagues shafted by bosses who don’t know what they are doing.
Some have upped sticks to go to the area for employment, only to be kicked where it hurts a few years later.
The only copy editing that seems to take place is the ability to write enough words to fit into a box. It doesn’t matter what the words are or the order that they come in.
Never mind the quality, it fits!
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The reason they “….continue to face difficult trading conditions with sustained pressure on the profitability of the business” is because they are the ones who mismanaged the business for so long!
Even when the emergence of new media and new methods for people to access the news came along they chose to ignore it, they’re the ones who shoos be accountable for their actions and ultimately pay the price!
Let’s face it if majority of suits were to go ,taking their highly inflated salaries ( and sense of self importance) with them,no one would notice and the industry would be in a much healthier place.
Beyond ridiculous how so many incompetent middle managers get away with making bad decisions which in time impact on the business and people’s livelihoods
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From The Ode to the Ancient Sub-Editor
“And yet,” I ventured cautiously, “can what they say be true?
“I’ve heard tell that the management wants to get rid of you.”
”’Tis true,” the gloomy sub replied, now glugging down red wine,
“They got rid of the NGA, now we’re the next in line.
“Mark my words, young journalist, the cup they drink is bitter,
“Mistakes will sprout like dandelions and literals will litter.
“Comment it may still be free, but faith in facts will shatter,
“Whatever garbage fills the space, that’s all that’s going to matter.”
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This,along with office closures and moves to a central working base are becoming,and will further become,key trends for whats left of the industry throughout 2017.
In the rush to make quick savings, knee jerk measures are taken, and yes whilst cost savings must be made to safeguard the more profitable parts of the business and to cut down waste,its where the cuts are being made which concerns most people.
As usual its the already stretched subs and general reporters who are facing the chop,not those in the area where the biggest costs are incurred,the advertising department.
An ad manager once told me they were “safe as houses” as no one will ever axe ad reps as they produce the revenue,well looking at the recent sales figures and huge revenue losses coupled with the high cost of keeping an ad rep on the road,that can no longer be said so that secftor must now be very vulnerable.
Had the boards chosen to invest in quality journalists and columnists to provide quality content people might pay to read,instead of paying large salaries and bonus schemes to middle managers and underperfoming ad reps the picture might look brighter.
Meantime we all await one main publisher announcing a review of the commercial ,as opposed to the editorial departments ,but that day still seems a long way off.
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One of the many tell-tale signs that NQ (or any large group) doesn’t seem to value quality journalism or design is easily seen from the standard of the papers being produced. The few people left on-site in actual newspaper offices are fighting against the odds just to get papers out, let alone putting any thought into how they should be put together.
The Weymouth subbing hub is merely a factory churning out acres of text and having no say in design. The operators, many whom were journalists in former lives (many also weren’t and that is, sadly, the future) have mind-numbing days staring at a screen counting down the ever-growing list of stories they must tackle before their shift ends and they can clock out. They have no connection to any of the titles they work on, never see the finished product and might as well be on an assembly line or a sausage-packing conveyor belt.
The subs desk, which was once the engine room of a newspaper and the last-minute saviour of many an errant reporter, has not really existed for a long time – hence the sheer lack of quality and ingenuity shown on newspaper pages today.
The other tell-tale sign is that the regional production manager is not, and has never been, a journalist of and shape or form.
And while the ‘Write to Shape’ project may well have reduced the workload on the subbing hubs that doesn’t necessarily mean it is any good.
It seems as if subs have been elbowed out of the way faster than Zlatan Ibrahimovich deals with AFC Bournemouth defenders and with fewer headlines.
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Awful misery making decision. I suppose the sole multi-production centre/bunker in Weymouth puts staff there in a strong bargaining position for more money etc? They have the power to halt production of umpteen NQ papers, I’m told.
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I can vouch for the fact that cuts in one key area impact onto the entire process with a resultant detrimental effect on the end product ,however when publishers are no longer interested in producing high value,credible newspapers instead choosing a quick quick shove it out approach pushing staff to the limit then they cannot be surprised when so few people value them enough to seek them out and pay good money to read their products as evidenced by the incredible sales losses reported yet again in the latest ABC figures, and while moves such as this will reduce the salary bill short term , the longer term problems will soon emerge, problems that could quite easily signal the death knell for publishers adopting this short term cost saving measure.
Chin up you 13 plus FTEs you’ll soon be able to sit back and watch it all boil over
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This comment from the NUJ release seems to have missed the cut on this story:
“The proposal to axe remaining jobs in the Newport subbing hub, just two months after more than halving the workforce there, appears to be a panic measure to help keep going the level of generous profits from Newsquest exported to America.
“Bob Dickey, boss of US parent company Gannett, acknowledges in his guidance today to the money markets that the lower value of the pound is hurting the company and that they are cutting costs in the first half of the year to flatter the company’s figures in the second half.
“But UK journalists should not be sacrificed to fickle transatlantic exchange rates. For many years Gannett happily benefited from the enhanced earnings in Britain derived from a strong pound, so bosses must use current circumstances to invest in their operations on this side of the Atlantic, not grind it further into the ground.”
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Perhaps I should add I do not blame the few remaining journalists for the poor quality. They are just too over-worked to have time for quality. Fill the shape, and then the next shape, and then the next shape. Soul destroying stuff and it shows in the paper I am afraid.
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Maybe its time the Newsquest staff had a strike nationwide. Doubt they will. I guess they’ll accept the extra workload, have a moan, and be miserable.
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When there are no editorial staff left to cut, what’s the Grand Plan then? Given cut, cut, cut is all they have done over recent years?
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They won’t strike. The few that are left are terrified of losing their jobs. Eventually most of them will. It’s tragic.
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When there’s no more jobs to cut and no more salary savings to be made as @hoHum says, what then?
You can only cut so many jobs before huge cracks appear.
so many good people have now left the industry and are making good livings in the independent publishing sector and majority of those who remain, both the editorial and advertising people I speak to are working under intense pressure and fear of losing their jobs, something the bosses are aware of snd use to their advantage,it’s not a sustainable position, and no Dave S they’ll not strike , they’re all too afraid of just how easy it is to be axed too as sadly many will find out over time.
it just depends if any who remain have standards and a sense of self worth enough to tell them to shove it, however I think we all know the answer to that one.
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‘Nobody’s buying our product, so we’re going to make it even more crap.’
Yeah, that’ll work.
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I like the idea of Newsquest staff striking to save the Newport subbing hub. Is this the same subbing hub that people on the regionals are supposed to hate because it took away all the subbing jobs on those regionals…?
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