Journalism jobs and news from Holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Regional press news - this story published 14 August 2008

Publisher facing group-wide action over job cuts

by holdthefrontpage staff

The National Union of Journalists has today announced a company-wide campaign of action against Johnston Press over its proposed cutbacks at a series of regional centres.

As previously reported on HoldtheFrontPage, the company is currently consulting staff over planned job cuts in Sheffield, Northampton and Scotland.

Now NUJ reps from across JP's main publishing centres have backed a motion of no confidence in the company's senior management and called for industrial action across the group.

Chapels across the UK and Ireland will be consulted over possible strike action in the coming days before final plans are drawn up.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear claimed a "tipping point" had now been reached with the latest proposed cuts threatening the very future of some titles.

"If you continue to deny resources for editorial you inevitably produce worse products and why would businesses advertise in or readers buy such products," he said.

"The strategy of cut, cut, cut in editorial budgets has been shown to be a failure and it's time it was reversed. Shareholders should be fearful for their investments and local communities should fear for the future of their papers.

"We won't sit back and allow jobs and quality journalism to be threatened. The mood amongst our members is one of determination to actively oppose cuts which damage quality, lead to increased workloads, threaten the future of the titles and put at risk more jobs."

The NUJ Johnston Press Group Chapel, representing all union members across the company, will also seek meetings with the group's management to urge a rethink on the cuts in a bid to avoid strike action.

They claim that job cuts and the widespread non-replacement of staff are putting "intolerable pressures" on remaining journalists or leading to situations where papers are unable to cover their local areas.

In a statement this afternoon, Johnston Press said: "Certain companies within the Group have announced proposals which, together with any related issues, are subject to local consultation. Every effort is being made to minimise the impact on those affected by examining all alternatives.

"Johnston Press companies are fully aware of their obligations to all employees, the need to invest in quality journalism and the importance of safeguarding future business prospects in the face of the current downturn in advertising markets."

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hector (15/08/2008 06:33)
AS ever the NUJ demonstrate their absolute inability to recognise that the world around them is changing -I would have more faith in JP senior management than I would in the NUJ!! WOuld be interesting I am sure to see how successful they would be running a publishing business in today's world.........

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F. Johnston (15/08/2008 10:11)
Sorry Hector, you are wrong. We journalists rcognise the world is changing rapidly and we adapting rapidly. Audio-visual, multi-platform publishing and all the rest. What JP and publishers like them don't seem to get is that if you don't have quality staff, you don't have quality products that people want to buy and advertise in. And it's not a new thing either, even in the good times JP have treated the journalism side of their business with contempt - the majority of their district offices are run by trainees for instance.

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Jimmie (15/08/2008 10:27)
In my paper, about half the staff of three years ago are being expected to produce the same amount of material. There are no seniors, just trainees, so how can any of them learn from the more experienced staff when there aren't any? It's not just the job cuts - I've heard of one editorial department where they're being limited on the number of pens the journalists are allowed to use.

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Pamela Brown (15/08/2008 11:36)
From the mid-90s, for a decade, JP expanded rapidly, buying up numerous papers across the UK but building up an eye-watering amount of dept in the process: they currently owe £600 million or so. In the last 15 months the share has plummeted from around 450p to just 58p this morning. Advertising revenue - a newspaper's key stream of income, and way, way more lucrative than small-change income from sales over the counter - is drying up as advertisers migrate to the web. Plus, the credit crunch now means the banks want their money back. This all adds up to very bad news for JP. They are, to all intents and purposes, broke. Instead of taking the more sensible option of selling off some of their so-called 'flagship' titles to help reduce their debt - titles that they just don't seem to be able to handle, as they're a small-minded company with too-big aspirations - they instead brutally cut staff and slash resources in a desperate bid to impress would-be shareholders, and in a misguided bid to keep their bankers sweet. Meanwhile, JP treat their staff with contempt, making experienced, properly-paid staff redundant to save cash, and filling their vacancies with inadequate trainees with zero experience (and, sadly, often with no real natural talent for the tasks) who are paid a pittance as JP desperately suppress their wages bill. Their online efforts are even worse - have you ever looked at any of JP titles' websites? Identikit templates, looking like something from the early days of the web. They just don't seem to understand the online side of things at all. It's embarrassing. Result: Without enough decent writers, with insufficient numbers of talented background staff, and without the quality of their papers and websites nosedive, and readers respond by deserting in droves. And so the cycle continues. Before very long, things will implode. Papers will inevitably start closing down. It's not a just a JP problem though. There are many media and newspaper companies in exactly the same position, across the UK and beyond. They one thing that unites them all is their greed. Greedy companies should not be newspaper owners. Papers are a business, of course, but the wider responsibilities of being a newspaper or media owner should far outweigh responsibilities to shareholders. A long, proud history of press freedom backed up by sufficient resources to uncover, report and expose information for the public's benefit is being eroded by corporate greed. Something has to give, but sadly it looks like the staff will be doing all the giving, while the greedy owners carry on taking. I used to work at JP but saw my chance and got out two years ago. I now work for a JP rival, but their staff's battle is our battle too. I wish the NUJ and JP's staff well in their struggle, but I can't see a happy ending for as long as greedy, bloated corporate owners exist in their current shape and form.

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Barry (15/08/2008 14:36)
There is now a paper in my group which has no full-time journalists. It used to have three. I can't see how it will survive

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Mr_Osato (15/08/2008 16:33)
I'm quite sure the NUJ would do a far better job than Johnson, Trinity, £££quest or any of the other despicable asset strippers running the UK's regional press. That's because they realise editorial quality and investment are the way forward rather than trying to defend an increasingly weak monopoly position by cutting costs further. Actually I have a modicum of sympathy for Johnston who did what everyone thought they had to do - growing to become a 'big player'by buying up everything in sight. They should have seen the slump coming but didn't. Far better than the Newsquest managers who just doof their caps to their betters across the Atlantic and slash away.

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richard meredith (15/08/2008 21:32)
Once, not so many years ago, I was chairman of a free newspaper group that eventually sold to Thomsons for a great deal of money. We had a simple rule - produce a newspaper that people want to read and the advertising will roll in. It did. JP is not invited to put papers through people's letterboxes, it just does it. Advertisers are not stupid (and even less so when the going gets rough like it now is) - they will spend their money where they think they will sell their products... and a squatting cat will only spend a penny or worse. Your journalists make your papers worth reading JP. Forget that golden rule at your peril!

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