Subbing jobs at Newsquest’s southern region are under threat as the result of plans for two subbing hubs covering four daily titles.
Most production operations for The Argus, Brighton, are to be centralised at the Southampton home of the Southern Daily Echo.
It is understood that the change will result in the net loss of five posts in Brighton, but this will be partly counterbalanced by the creation of an additional three jobs in Southampton.
In a parallel move, the subbing desks of the Daily Echo, Bournemouth, and the Dorset Echo are set to be merged at a new hub in Weymouth with a net loss of four posts.
The Brighton changes were announced to staff at the end of last week.
Seven sub-editing posts on The Argus are being reduced to two, while the post of Worthing reporter is also set to disappear.
Meanwhile in Bournemouth and Weymouth, the overall number of subs will be reduced from 18 to 14.
Newsquest regional managing director John Banks, whose region covers all the affected titles, was not available. No-one else from the company has yet responded to requests for comment.
Members of the National Union of Journalists’ chapel at The Argus are to hold a meeting on Thursday to consider their response to the plans.
The union’s general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “Staff on the Argus are right to be angry. Sub-editing a local newspaper from Southampton does make sense – but only if that paper serves Southampton.
“This move is a continuation of Newsquest’s short-sighted policy of spreading resources thinly, ensuring local newspapers are local only in name.
“We’ve seen local newspapers operations fully or partially moved to regional hubs before and the result is always the same – newspapers that are increasingly less well informed and more remote from the communities they serve, leading to falling circulation and ultimately closure.
Mr Dear added: “To suggest that The Brighton Argus could be produced outside of the community it serves and reports to, and upon which it relies for revenue, shows a disregard for the quality of the paper and the intelligence of its readership.
“Local knowledge and expertise is crucial to an accurate and effectively edited paper and to throw this invaluable resource away simply in order to cut a few more jobs is a desperately false economy.”
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Congratulations! And Three hearty cheers for Chief exec. Paul Davidson and his work in raising his salary by more than £100k to £609,000 and his pension paypents from £38,536 to £94,986. CHEERS!
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Paul Davidson’s salary increase is news to me, but I’m sure that all the people about to be laid off will feel a glow of pride as the man with overall responsibility for the Argus toasts his newly unemployed subs in a big glass of champagne. The Argus has gone from being one of the biggest regionals in the country to one of the most blighted, but that’s what happens when you make real newspaper people redundant and replace them with former consultants and yes men. I know through contacts there that staff morale is already on the floor. Something tells me it won’t be improving just yet. What a company! Gannet indeed.
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RE: Brighton Argus. Not many left there now (in total, not just news subs) Hatchet man has almost killed them all. Still has a features department – bulletproof. Must be one of the most miserable places because they have to work so hard for no thanks – only abuse – despite doing the work of three subs each. Creating an ‘almost no-talking’ zone can’t be good at a newspaper, can it? Gannett making constant profits yet still getting rid of staff. The ‘yes man’ must be loving it. Probably wouldn’t know good staff even if he made them all redundant.
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Welcome to the (Johnston Press) club. Low morale, even lower story count – the bosses wonder why newspaper sales are falling yet reporters can’t get out to find real news because they are glued to their desks thanks to having to do the subs’ jobs as well. Brilliant planning. Can you hear the death knell for YOUR local paper yet?
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Outside Brighton the Argus is dead meat. It once had a strong team of experienced district reporters who missed nothing, who it pushed out and closed offices. Now it contents itself with court stories and following up the best of weekly paper stories. Hard to believe this paper once sold 100,000-plus instead of current 25,000. But don’t Gannetts drop soemthing nasty on you from a great height? For Gannett read JP Trinity Mirror etc. Anyone work for nice decent independent paper where staff are treated like human beings instead of machines?
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It’s not just the Argus. Have you noticed the low standards of writing and accuracy on weekly papers now. Looks to me as if some reporters cum-subs-picture editors-headline writers-web writers, web uploaders- telephone answerers, are so overworked they are reduced to recycling dire press releases without changing a word. How low can things get?
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No mention on here of the management who revolutionised the content, ostracised its core readership and lost readers almost overnight in numbers a World War One general would have been proud of. I remember them crowing about the future at the time, about how it was future of papers etc etc. Where are they now?
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