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Daily relaunches with 60 more pages – and no price hike

A regional daily is investing almost £100,000 in a revamp which will see it add up to 60 extra pages a week and launch three new supplements.

The Grimsby Telegraph, which recently axed three editorial roles in a restructure, is launching a new 28-page Weekend guide, a new business section, and a 12-page Bygones special along with other changes.

However unlike a number of other daily titles which have recently relaunched with extra pagination, it is doing so without the need for a cover price increase.

Telegraph editor Michelle Lalor admitted that the new investment had been made possible partly as a result of  “looking at efficiencies and restructure elsewhere in the business.”

Three editorial jobs at the Local World-owned title were lost last month as production and journalist roles were merged to form 12 new content manager jobs,  while other savings were made in other departments.

The new-look paper, which launches today, also includes extra news pages, more sport pages, a revamped What’s On section and money-saving consumer features.

Said Michelle:  “The number of people reading the Grimsby Telegraph, both in print and online, has grown significantly over recent years and we were conscious that we needed to grow and give something back.

“We are the only local newspaper investing in so many extra pages in the current economic climate but we are confident it is the right thing to do.

“We want it to offer exceptional value for money every single day of the week.

“The print version of the Grimsby Telegraph is now bigger and better than ever before and when combined with the website, we are committed to being the only source of news that people in North East Lincolnshire need to read.”

Asked whether the paper would be increasing its cover price , Michelle told HTFP:  “As we look further into the year the company may be looking at pricing, as we would do  in a normal year.

But she added:  “Any change later in the year is not linked to the extra investment, which has been achieved by looking at efficiencies and restructure elsewhere in the business.”

Staff were told in mid-June about the restructure at the paper due to cost-cutting pressures.

Two members of editorial staff took voluntary redundancy while one was made compulsorily redundant.

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  • July 9, 2013 at 1:53 pm
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    Maybe it’s about time bosses at the coal face made a stand against edicts imposed on them rather than just showing the white flag

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