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Jobs at risk as newsroom merger plans revealed

Journalists at Newsquest Bradford have been told to reapply for their posts under a plan to merge newsrooms which is set to result in two job losses, according to union claims.

The National Union of Journalists says 18 journalists working at Bradford’s Telegraph and Argus, Ilkley Gazette, Wharfedale and Airedale Observer and Keighley News are being proposed for redundancy and will have to reapply for 16 new positions.

It says this means those at risk of losing their jobs include the whole of the Keighley and Ilkley reporting staff apart from one trainee, all photographers apart the Craven Herald one and a trainee, along with two editors and senior editorial and newsdesk staff.

The NUJ chapel says it intends to ballot for industrial action over the plans and the company’s continuing pay freeze, as the latest wave of disputes carries on at the group.

Bob Smith, father of chapel at Newsquest Bradford and the UK-wide Newsquest group chapel, said he feared merging resources in the newsrooms would lead to titles losing their identities.

He said: “Newsquest Bradford’s group editor Perry Austin-Clarke attempts to justify the job cuts by saying the sales performance of paid-for weekly titles are disappointing. And his answer is to cut further the number of skilled journalists working on those titles.

“The weeklies will lose their individual identities and readers will be served more poorly. It is obvious to all but our managers where this will lead.

“Newsquest is putting the future of these venerable publications at risk. To pretend that the Keighley News and Ilkley Gazette and Wharfedale Observer serve the same audience is to live in cloud cuckoo land.

“The chapel will fight these job cuts tooth and nail. We intend to ballot for industrial action both to resist these unnecessary redundancies and to gain a pay rise for our beleaguered members.”

According to the union, Perry’s statement to staff said: “There is clearly a great deal of synergy between all the newspapers (the Keighley News, Ilkley Gazette and Wharfedale Observer, Telegraph and Argus) covering these areas and we believe we can provide far more efficient coverage by merging our resources there.”

No one from Newsquest had responded to requests for a comment at the time of publication.

7 comments

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  • November 19, 2010 at 10:22 am
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    One trainee to cover the entirety of Keighley and Ilkley? What a complete and utter ridiculous and impossible task.

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  • November 19, 2010 at 10:33 am
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    You’d have a bit more respect if they just told the truth, instead of using phrases like more efficient coverage. Come on, you need to cut costs. Full stop. Don’t pretend it’s going to be better for everyone.

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  • November 19, 2010 at 11:30 am
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    To be an editor at newsquest you need the following qualifications: 1) Know how to use Quark 2) Follow whatever bosses tell you to do without question. Not sure about the former but it seems Perry has the latter down pat. The union must fight this too th and nail.

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  • November 19, 2010 at 3:13 pm
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    If the sales performance is disappointing then why not sack a couple of the sales team? Oh I forgot… They’re the ones who pull in the revenue on the free weeklies! Best keep hold of them and cut the already overworked, overstretched, undervalued and underpaid team of journalists and photographers. After all, they’re not the important ones are they? They don’t make Newsquest any money…

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  • November 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm
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    Are the sales of the T&A on the up then? Just out of interest, seen as they are highlighting sales performances at the weekly papers? One can only imagine the company is making a massive, massive loss and that merging the offices, selling off the real estate in Ikley and Skipton (must be worth a bob or two)as well as Keighley, will help to finance the pay of Newsquest senior management who have never been able to justify their extraordinary salaries – to my mind. There are really hard-working, dedicated reporters and subs on those papers, who put in a great deal of extra hours and effort, despite low wages – and this is how they are treated. Of course local newspapers need to change, work smarter, and find ways of at least stopping the rot, if not adding to sales figures – but this is not and will never be the way to do it. I don’t think the people running the show are stupid enough to believe this will change anything for the better; maybe they just hope they can hold on long enough to reach a far more comfortable retirement than the ones they condemn their staff to. And this whole business of NEVER EVER commenting on these stories is a disgusting mockery of the values any newspaper/media group should look to adhere to. Outrageous.

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  • November 19, 2010 at 3:47 pm
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    Perhaps time for an FOI request looking at Director performance and pay at these newsgroups – trying to see exactly what results these people have delivered, other than cutting staff to the bone? HTFP, you should consider your own part to play in highlighting what’s going on here…

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  • November 19, 2010 at 5:52 pm
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    Oh for the days when editors would take that pitiful, insulting quote in the penultimate par of this story, and hold it up as a prime example of the double-speak horseshit we joined the trade to cut through and ridicule. Now the EDITORS are coming out with it. Sad, sad, sad. Synergy. Dear God. Is there NOBODY left to tell these Emperors that they aren’t wearing any clothes? And what’s with “PERRY’S statement to staff….”? Would the Newsquest FoC be referred to subsequently as “Bob”? I doubt it. These people are killing regional journalism and they are getting away with it. Shame on them.

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