Managers at a Scottish newspaper publisher have indicated there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the introduction of a controversial new content management system.

The Johnston Press-owned Scotsman and its sister titles Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News are introducing the Atex system next week.

It means a reduction in the number of sub-editors of up to 12, with a number expected to take voluntary redundancy.

However in an internal memo to Scotsman Publications staff, managers made clear that compulsory job cuts would almost certainly be avoided.

Johnston Press is rolling out Atex across its titles but the National Union of Journalists is unhappy about the move, claiming editorial standards are being compromised.

Michael Johnston, MD at The Scotsman Publications Limited, has now confirmed the reduction in staff.

He said: “As a result of revised workflows, the company is consulting with staff and their representatives about a number of reorganisations within editorial areas that could lead to a reduction of approximately 10 to 12 roles.

“TSPL believes any changes within the editorial departments can be achieved through normal staff turnover, redeployment and voluntary redundancy.

“The company has received a number of applications for voluntary redundancy and it is now in the process of informing applicants of the result.

“At present, TSPL does not envisage compulsory redundancies although it will consider further applications for voluntary redundancy should individuals still wish to consider this option.”

There have also been a number of new staff appointments at the The Scotsman, with deputy news editor Chris Marks becoming news editor.

Alan Greenwood, currently editor of the paper’s website, succeeds Chris in the deputy role, while Tanya Thompson will now be assistant news editor.

Frank O’Donnell has taken on responsibility for features from Lee Randall – who remains a senior feature writer – but will continue as assistant editor in charge of all news and feature content with Chris reporting into him.

Comments

Darth Vader (17/06/2010 08:39:46)
Welcome to the dark side ….

outofit (17/06/2010 09:37:09)
Scotland loses its premier newspaper as JP continues its mindless destruction of a once-proud industry.

Atex Rules OK (17/06/2010 10:14:03)
I’ve used Atex. It’s great. It will force reporters to improve and the training of reporters to improve – so improvements all round then. It is safe-guarding jobs, and I’ve heard some papers are showing good year-on-year sales figures under Atex. ‘Once proud’ sounds like an old warhorse who needs to toddle off. Anyone who has used ‘TERROR’ at Northcliffe will know just how good Atex’s coupling with Adobe’s InDesign and InCopy really is.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION

A. J. Ournalist (17/06/2010 10:34:02)
Modern journalists need to be able to adapt to new ways of working and new technology. Unfortunately there are a number of bitter has-beens knocking around who are stuck in their ways and refuse to adapt. These people are doing as much if not more damage to local journalism as things like ATEX are.

Sooyo (17/06/2010 10:48:53)
Apparently Leeds staff reckon they’re not gonna get Atex due to the problems elsewhere and dodge the redundancies. Keep dreaming lads…

Happy Hack (17/06/2010 10:56:18)
RE A.J.Ournalist and Atex Rules Ok, I agree 100 per cent with you. Atex is allowing reporters to develop more skills and that has got to be a good thing for the future of journalism. The days of having 25 subs sitting there calling for page leads only for the copy to be shortened to a nib is long since gone. As I have said on a previous post, if the reporters have been NCTJ trained and passed the NCE then they should be capable of writing legally safe copy and spotting spelling mistakes.

Steve Hutchings (17/06/2010 11:57:47)
With regard to what Atex Rules OK states : I also use Atex and we have been fully trained. Nonetheless I doubt the veracity of this individual and what is said. Atex is slow, clunky, ridden with flaws and completely inefficient. It does nothing to develop the skills of journalists. Rather, it places the priority on the means of production and the journalism runs a poor second. This is the simple truth and no one should be in any doubt. Atex is prone to crashing, invariably near deadline when the workload is at its greatest. We have people who still utilise Quark and, quite literally, carry out the same function in half the time compared to Atex – thus allowing them to concentrate on the journalism. Once again, this is the simple truth. I have no qualms with my particular company – in fact the training has been excellent. But, for me, it does not alter the fundamental flaws in the Atex system. I operate it every day. I tell it the way it is!

Scribbler (17/06/2010 12:47:28)
I work with Atex and I don’t mind it; the problem is that you have so many other things to do (finding, “fettling” and attaching pictures; filling in all the Metadata for the web and searching for “shapes” to write into, etc) that you are limited in the time you have for your actual job – finding and writing news stories. As Steve Hutchings says, the emphasis is on production and not journalism. But why should JP care about that? They don’t employ any journalists, after all.

A S Ubeditor (17/06/2010 13:07:58)
I think some of you are missing the point. This is not about people being luddites, it is about the fact that 1) Reporters are generally hopeless are spelling/grammar (sorry but it is true) and 2) Reporters should be out reporting… not checking each other’s copy. Yes, times change and technology makes the job easier. But subs are not just there to cut copy. It also sounds to me like the reporters are being expected to do two jobs. You really happy with that?

Happy Hack (17/06/2010 14:00:48)
Any reporter who cannot spell should not even be in the industry!

Alex T (17/06/2010 15:19:03)
Some pretty dodgy comments. Atex Rules OK is probably some JP HR guy. Either that, or he’s an extremely unpopular journalist. I work alongside subs who use ATEX and they find it consistently slow and ineffective. Moreover, it is leading to an excessive reliance on templates, a reduction in jobs, and longer hours for everyone else.
We’re moving in a direction where reporters will be expected to produce error-free copy, first time every time, and dabble in production as well. Who cares if quality goes down, jobs are lost, and everyone works 50-hour weeks? Because if they won’t do it, someone else will. The bottom line is, you don’t improve a service by cutting funding to it.

MikeC (17/06/2010 15:57:34)
If the Sun had Atex it would not be half the successful paper it is. The Sun is a subs’ paper and represents the best of the best. I do not care for its political stance but it is without doubt a very good paper in many ways.
I have known excellent reporters who are useless at subbing. What’s more, reporters in the provincial press tend to be in their 20s and 30s, whereas the average age of subs is often higher and they have extensive local knowledge, having worked on the paper for longer.
It is a pity that the money men who lead our industry have very little knowledge of newspaper production.

old school (17/06/2010 17:03:01)
In answer to several comments, far too many NCE/NCTJ-trained young reporters CANNOT spell worth a damn and have a poor grasp of grammar and even basic sentence structure. That’s a fact. It’s also a fact that in one of my former papers, which no longer seems to bother about subbing or checking, I came across a 150 word story with at least five basic and flagrant errors, including spelling a man’s name two different ways and writing I’m as i’m.
Getting rid of subs is NOT very clever at all, and you young reporters aren’t nearly as good as you think you are either (just as we weren’t a
s good as we were sure we were in our younger days).

atex user (18/06/2010 11:04:49)
1) Atex is being rolled out to reduce costs, not ’empower’ reporters. The firm is having to reduce costs, alongside falling sales, the challenge of the web and falling ad revenues, because of a series of disasterous purchases made by the board.
2) Atex is clumsy and it does not work in several key areas. It does not allow the automatic web uploads because it just does not work. Atex itself accepts there are problems with its delivery, hence the weekly email update on the numerous faults. The editorial relocation tool is a farce and there are lots of administrative jobs like the metadata.

dilbert (18/06/2010 11:04:53)
“We’re moving in a direction where reporters will be expected to produce error-free copy, first time every time…”
Is this a bad thing, or isn’t this something that everybody should be striving towards in there job every time they write a story, change a car wheel or flip a burger?

the irony (18/06/2010 11:33:43)
or when they can’t differentiate between using their or there on a website eh Dilbert?

Scribbler (18/06/2010 12:21:00)
Perhaps Dilbert is a burger flipper. Or just a silly flippin’ burger.

Happy Hack (18/06/2010 12:51:01)
In response to Old School, I take on board your comments about younger reporters not being able to spell but most young people coming into the profession are very talented and quite capable of doing the job. The biggest problem tends to be ignorant older stuffy hacks who harp on about how great it was in their day and cast doubt over future applicants and colleagues. That is a fact, I’m sure you would also agree.