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'We'll find jobs for 40 threatened subs' says JP

Regional publisher Johnston Press today moved to allay fears that fresh plans for centralised subbing may leave up to 40 sub-editors out of work.

Yesterday, HTFP reported that three centralised subbing hubs created in Peterborough, Milton Keynes and Northampton earlier this year are themselves to be merged into a single one in Peterborough.

JP workers have told HTFP that around 55 staff at the three hubs are expected to be reduced to 11 and that a formal consultation period is now under way.

But today the company said it hoped to redeploy all the affected staff within its Midlands division, and claimed there were enough current vacancies to enable it to do so.

The company said in a statement: “We can confirm that Johnston Press Midlands Division is considering centralising the sub-editing function into one centre.

“In anticipation of this, we are discussing options with affected sub-editors including redeployment and transfer. There are currently sufficient redeployment opportunities in the division for all the affected sub-editing staff.”

The new subbing operation will cover all Johnston Press weekly titles across Northamptonshire, Anglia, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Its introduction coincides with the roll-out of JP’s new Atex editorial content management system which allows reporters to write stories directly onto template pages and create print and online headlines, which is being piloted in the Midlands.

Comments

onlooker (11/12/2009 16:32:36)
Yes, but the majority of current vacancies are for reporters, with the current reporters being on temporary contracts which will disappear if a sub wants to take a backwards step.

Roger Jones (11/12/2009 17:27:59)
In the present climate any job has got to be better than non at all. At least JP is prepared to look at the options.
But bear in mind by their own admission I know of some subs who could be described as “failed” reporters and didn’t like being at the sharp end, prefering desk jobs. And there are of course reporters who couldn’t sub to save their lives! Knowledge of each other’s job is very helpful.

Mr Nobody (14/12/2009 10:32:14)
Would somebody working as a sub in Milton Keynes really want to be a reporter in Skegness, a news editor in King’s Lynn, or a sports writer in Stamford? Doubt it!

JP Worker (14/12/2009 10:47:12)
Fantastic – a sub working in say Milton Keynes can have a completely different job as a reporter in Lincolnshire on a three-month contract. The expression “stringing them along” comes to mind. and no Roger, the “present climate” is not an excuse to treat staff shabbily nor for anyone to accept being treated in such a way.

richard meredith (14/12/2009 11:25:22)
JP’s statement has got ‘moving the deckchairs around on the Titanic’ written all over it. How long before the so-called Press Officers at councils, police, fire, hospitals etc are filing their er, content, direct into the page management system? As someone who sees JP’s papers in 3 of these areas on a regular basis all I can say is that their journos are working miracles every day of the week, but how much longer before they all get blinded by the smoke and mirrors or drowned in JP’s sea of management-speak?

Subbed to death (14/12/2009 11:49:40)
As someone who lost their job at JP in the last round of sub hub job cuts, the redeployment offer was to one of these sub hubs 80 miles away, involved demotion and a major wage cut and would have been in the firing range six months later.

Backwards Benny (14/12/2009 12:19:42)
So subs will become reporters while reporters take over the subbing duties of writing headlines etc. An inspired piece of management – why don’t just they keep it as it is?

Jacques Merde (14/12/2009 13:52:30)
I’m a JP sub and I can honestly say that in 20 years of working in journalism, I have never encountered such an awful company to work for.
But that’s what happens when you get generic managers with no understanding of the product running the show. The quality of the product takes a back seat to pleasing the banks and the shareholders.
JP managers are simply lining their pockets as much as they can, bulking up their pensions and keeping the banks at bay for as long as they can. Which won’t be all that long, by the looks of it.

T Nation (14/12/2009 14:03:00)
When you look at the JP titles currently being published, they don’t look that unhealthy. OK revenue is obviously seriously down on a couple of years ago, but there is still plenty there. This is probably enough to make them profitable. The latest round of cutbacks is therefore more likely to be a result of poor business decisions and investments at board level a couple of years ago. Where now are the guilty men whose misjudgements are being paid for by the poor old subs?

Archie Plunkett (14/12/2009 14:46:32)
As an ex-JP editor, I have to say I agree 100% with the first part of the comment left by Jacques Merde… “I can honestly say that in 20 years of working in journalism, I have never encountered such an awful company to work for. But that’s what happens when you get generic managers with no understanding of the product running the show. The quality of the product takes a back seat to pleasing the banks and the shareholders.”

JP victim (14/12/2009 14:52:18)
Sad sad times for those of us journalists who actually care about newspapers and their roles in the community.
Good luck to the poor overworked reporting teams who will be left behind. They’ll be expected to take the photos as well soon! JP has managed to cull the vast majority of its experienced journalists this year and I absolutely know – despite the best efforts of those who remain – the products will suffer for it.
You have lost a great many talented journalists to your business and, indeed to the industry. How on God’s earth can this be anything but commercial suicide?
I adored my career and now am on the scrapheap like ‘yesterday’s news!’
Local newspapers R.I.P!

Ex-JP sub (14/12/2009 15:02:19)
Mr Nobody, you’re quite right.
However, as far as I am aware there is no longer a news editor position at King’s Lynn (maybe news content co-ordinator these days? The excellent news ed went in the last round of job cuts). And maybe Stamford does have a sports writer, but if it does it’s lucky. Sports writers are a luxury not generally seen elsewhere in the group…
Thank goodness I did not take a job at the hub 70 miles away and move house to cut the commute, only to be told six months on that I was no longer required.

Johnston Pressure (14/12/2009 16:12:49)
JP’s treatment of its staff has been disgusting over the last few years, but this latest move takes the prize. Why did they centralise us 9 months ago, when it doesn’t take a genius to realise that this content management system has been in the planning far longer than that? What’s as bad as the treatment of staff is JP’s disregard for its customers, the readers. Do they honestly think people will still buy papers full of errors, untouched press releases and doubles? Those that remain after this cull have my sympathy. It will not be long before they are next, if they don’t drop dead from exhaustion first.

Down and Out (14/12/2009 17:01:48)
Does JP really think highly-skilled designers will be so desperate to continue working for the company they will go from being a sub in Milton Keynes to an inputter in King’s Lynn? This latest ‘proposal’ is a massive slap in the face for the subs, like me, who have worked their socks off to ensure the success of the centralised subbing departments over the last year. Talk of redeployment and transfers is yet more utter rubbish from JP management who see their staff as statistics on a balance sheet rather than people. I loved my job and am heartbroken it is being snatched away from me. To the bosses
who continue to make one desperate decision after another, thanks for nothing.

Jacques Merde (14/12/2009 18:04:12)
Oh, there goes the Peterborough Planning Department. It is ‘proposed’ that it should be centralized in Northampton, after an assessment of its efficiency. Not that I think for one minute the staff will have been asked to improve their ‘efficiency’ in the past.
Fewer deckchairs to rearrange on the Titanic, I guess.

hackette (15/12/2009 10:19:34)
Dear Backwards Benny
Why don’t they keep it the same? Seemple.
Hacks are cheaper than subs and easier to replace when they get p….off by it all.
And bosses know there are gullible kids waiting to enter this lunatic asylum that is modern journalism.
“Cash before quality” is all bosses care about, whatever bull they utter in public and to staff.
If they could get the cleaner to “fill the shapes” they would.
One major problem is that some regional bosses have forgotten what it is like to be on the shop floor and need to get back to doing a day’s work.
Sorry to be such a Bad Santa.

Hub sub (15/12/2009 13:15:48)
I agree about those in their ivory tower needing to get back to the shop floor. But we need more ex-editors and journalists at the top in Johnston Press – accountants and money men know nothing about running a newspaper. I came into the JP fold after they took over the newspaper group I was working for so about 10 years ago. We were scared because we worked in a central subbing pool, and JP didn’t like central pools as they weren’t local enough – my how things change.
The cuts really are harming the final product. The Atex system is fine, but its run from a remote desktop across JP, which means its slow, constantly crashing and makes our jobs 10 times harder. There is no picture archive and it crops the original picture, rather than just the one you have pulled onto the page – all huge failings that have drastically slowed production of the papers.
I also hate the phrase “consultation” when staff are really “consulted” on the changes. Before implimenting these changes Mr Fry, why don’t you visit the hubs which will be effected and talk to the staff?

Hub Sub (15/12/2009 14:35:52)
Affected even! See how hard it is to sub your own copy lol!