Regional publisher Trinity Mirror has flatly refuted claims that it is planning to take Wales’s national daily newspaper weekly.

The National Union of Journalists made the claim in a submission to the ongoing inquiry into the state of the Welsh Media being carried out by the Welsh Assembly.

Its Cardiff branch said:  “There is speculation that within a relatively short space of time the Western Mail will cease to be published as a daily and will become a weekly paper.”

But a Trinity Mirror spokesman responded:  “We have absolutely no plans to take the Western Mail weekly.”

The NUJ is urging the Welsh Assembly government to intervene to prevent further job losses and newspaper closures in the principality.

It wants newspapers in Wales to be declared “community assets” that would enable them to continue if their current owners to try to shut them down.

The memorandum by the union’s Cardiff and South East Wales branch said:  “Within Media Wales, the widespread view of our members is that the newspapers have a limited remaining lifespan.

“There is speculation that within a relatively short space of time the Western Mail will cease to be published as a daily and will become a weekly paper.

“If that happens, many more jobs will be lost, and Wales will lose its only daily paper that seeks to take a national view of the country.”

The union claims that around 100 jobs have been lost in the editorial department of Media Wales since 2003.

It says:  “Newspapers in Wales should be declared national and community assets, and the Welsh Government should do what it can to stop titles closing and help develop new business models that would enable the industry to continue if current owners pull out.”

Western Mail editor Alan Edmunds is expected to give evidence to the inquiry in due course.