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Four editors set to be axed in Welsh shake-up

Four editors’ posts are at risk of redundancy as a result of a new shake-up of Trinity Mirror’s titles in South Wales.
The publisher’s Media Wales division has announced its intention to restructure the management of its Celtic weeklies titles and bring them under a single editor-in-chief.

The editorial roles under threat were themselves created as a result of an earlier shake-up in November 2008, which reduced the number of editors from seven to four.

Trinity Mirror has confirmed that the four roles will be made redundant and that a 30-day period of consultation with the affected staff members has begun.

The November 2008 restructure saw the introduction of a single editor each for:

Merthyr Express, Rhymney Valley and Gwent Gazette
Rhondda Leader, Pontypridd Observer
Cynon Valley Leader
Glamorgan Gazette, Neath Guardian, Port Talbot Guardian

The Neath and Port Talbot Guardians subsequently closed last autumn.

Under the new plan, the seven remaning titles are to be brought under a single editor-in-chief, supported an assistant head of content.

In a statement today, Trinity Mirror said the change was being made to enable the titles to “take maximum advantage of the print and online opportunities afforded by our successful multimedia news operation” and would be followed by “a series of developments and enhancements in the coming months.”

Media Wales publishing director Alan Edmunds said: “Since the introduction of our multimedia newsroom in 2008, we have been working with the weekly titles to produce our Celtic newspaper series in the most effective way possible for our readers and advertisers.

“It is our belief that the future development and operational requirements of these titles as well as the needs of the communities that they engage will be better served by a new approach, taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by our multimedia news operations.

“We remain committed to serving the people and communities of all the Celtic weekly titles in the same unrivalled way we have done for many years.”

7 comments

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  • September 27, 2010 at 12:40 pm
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    Wonder what the Welsh Parliament will say about the continued downgrading of the Valleys media, with no senior journalist championing their specific causes?

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  • September 27, 2010 at 1:06 pm
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    This is just the latest step towards the closure of these weeklies altogether. Very sad and ill-thought-out considering they are the papers that make the money.

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  • September 27, 2010 at 2:05 pm
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    I have noticed the quality of my local Celtic weekly paper The Cynon Valley leader go steadily downhill over the past few years. There is obvious shared content in the Leader which has very little relevance to the locality. Trinity Mirror closed the local ofice in the valley down last year and moved its editor and staff to a neighbouring valley. However following the death of Stuart Cable earlier this year The Leader pulled a cracking couple of editions out of the bag. It was very obvious that this was only possible because of the local staff’s links with the local community. What TM are doing will further dilute content and quality in what where once vibrant local weekly papers. It is very obvious that TM do not care what happens to these publications or the communities they serve. Trinity’s evening in Cardiff The South Wales Echo used to serve the Valleys on a daily basis with dedicated reporters based in the major towns. Now the Echo is seen by the people of the valleys as a”Cardiff newspaper” There is very little relevant news content included for this community. Before abandoning the valleys The Echo was the largest newspaper in Wales – now it is the South Wales Evening Post in Swansea – a newspaper with half the catchment area. It is very sad to see a proud area of Wales being abandoned by Trinity Mirror in this way. Mr Edmunds its obvious to any fair thinking member of te community that you do not ‘remain committed to serving the people and communities’ of the valley by your companies actions. It will also be increasingly difficult to pull off the kind of one off quality the Leader acheived with its Stewart Cable coverage.

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  • September 27, 2010 at 3:24 pm
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    ‘A series of developments and enhancements in the coming months’. Uh-oh. Are these really from the mouths of people who work for Sly ‘That’s the end of the redundancies’ Bailey? More lies. More spin. Us journalists can spot BS a mile off, yet we have people who are allegedly journalists putting out this pap. Simple explanation is, it’s one more step towards the demise of these titles. Nature hates a vacuum and someone will step in to take their place. If Trinity is too dumb to see that – and let’s face it, this decision proves it is – then it deserves to sink without trace. Wonder if the editor of the Echo had wind of this before he decided to jump ship. Makes it look like an increasingly sensible idea.

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  • September 27, 2010 at 4:40 pm
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    We remain committed to serving the people and communities … in the same unrivalled way… What, with hardly any local staff or offices and fewer senior staff trying to manage more and more titles across a much wider area? Do people like Alan Edmunds ever honestly believe a word of what comes out of their own mouths or is all just meaningless to them anyway?

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  • September 28, 2010 at 11:52 am
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    There’s some very simple maths going on here. Disinvestment + dillution = wathered down titles that in time attract less advertising, gradually become unsustainable and close down. The sad thing is that these are the sort of communities that still want and support good local papers. Trinity Mirror should give up on them and let someone who knows what they’re doing, like Ray Tindle, take them on.

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