Two newspaper offices have closed while a senior editorial role has been axed in a series of changes at regional publisher Local World.
Reporters at Luton on Sunday and the Northampton Herald & Post are set to ‘go mobile’ after their offices were shut and production transferred to Bedford.
The two titles are part of the former LSN Media division of Iliffe News and Media, which became part of Local World at the start of last year.
In a further change, Steve Lowe, content director for the LSN titles since December 2013 and previously group editor-in-chief, left the business on Friday.
The shake-up follows the arrival of Richard Duxbury, who took over as managing director of the former Iliffe businesses in Cambridge, Bedfordshire and the South Midlands in April.
He replaced the former MD Mike Richardson who has since also left the business.
The offices in Luton and Northampton closed earlier this month with the opening of new editorial “hubs” in partnership with the Culture Centre in Luton and the Guildhall in Northampton.
Local World said the new Luton hub offered the capacity to produce Luton on Sunday and that Luton editorial staff will continue to be based in the town, while the Northampton hub will provide “an ideal location to meet customers and develop content”
Said Richard: “We continue to build our town centre presence in our key markets now that our employees are mobilised and can generate sales and content without the constraints of an office.
“The Luton and Northampton hubs will offer a greater service to our clients and bring us closer to our local audience.”
Steve, whose role is not being replaced, originally joined LSN Media in 1998 as a reporter before becoming political correspondent, news editor, group editor and finally group editor-in-chief in 2004.
Richard added: “Steve has always led by example and has been a fantastic member of the team. We wish him the best and thank him for all his hard work.”
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Note how these managerial clones always do their best to avoid using the words “news” or “journalism”. They always have to call it “content”.
As for their “mobilised” editorial staff, I sincerely hope they claim AND receive every penny of their mileage expenses.
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Since the dog days of the last senior management honchos running Northcliffe – and continued by the zealots of Local World – the policy in relation to senior editorial figures has been clear: we don’t want them.
This is clearly for two reasons – one obvious, one more subtle.
Obviously, these senior men and women once editing newspapers were ‘expensive’ when the new regime of fresh-faced managers tapped at their ever present calculators. And, forget what a competitive salary package brings you in terms of experience, nous, market presence, gravitas and key management/team building skills – now is not the time to be spending cash on that when there are profit targets to meet. And, if you can hire someone on a third of such a salary, call them Editor then, well….that will do.
More subtly, one suspects, these experienced guys and gals might have seen fit to query some of the madder initiatives and ideas which are spouting forth from the new regime of MDs and the chariot-drivers at head office.
And questioning simply will not do. You are either ‘on the bus’ or not (irrespective of whether it is being driven towards the cliff edge) and if you so much as suggest current policy might be achieving short term gain in profit and digital stats at the expense of medium/long term damage to the portfolio and brands, then you are not long for this Local World.
It’s a strategy all right, and the reductions in the editorial cost base continue to be a significant contributor to the increase in reported profits. But, take a look at the design and content of the papers, read about the court cases for breaching section 39 orders, witness editors breathlessly tweeting about stories they have unstrategically uploaded to their websites with no integrated content policy behind them and cast a glance at vacancies going unfilled in newsrooms and posts needing to be re-advertised due to lack of candidates, and one gets a sense just how “successful” this strategy has truly been.
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“…current policy might be achieving short term gain in profit and digital stats at the expense of medium/long term damage to the portfolio and brands…”
spot-on, Fred. Although at least no title closures have been announced… yet.
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‘We continue to build our town centre presence in our key markets now that our employees are mobilised and can generate sales and content without the constraints of an office. …’ yes Richard Duxbury, with Local World corporate-speak like that you should go far. Unfortunately, for Steve Lowe, Mike Richardson and many others – dedicated, principled and experienced editorial execs who were once the bedrock of our profession – now’s the time to move on. As one of the original founders of the Northants Post back in 1975 I have watched with sadness as our once-proud title has been passed from one conglomerate to another in the last few years and all the while seeing its standards and content wither on the vine. Don’t look back you two. Remember the paper as it once was and not what it has become.
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Is the Northampton “hub” the library or a coffee shop? And did the person who said “without the constraints of an office” ever work anywhere but in an office themselves? Of course not. If you had the courage of your own pronouncements (albeit under orders), sir or madam, you’d “mobilise” yourself right now. But, of course, you don’t.
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Good luck Steve. Hope you have a good retirement (I assume?). Thanks for your support at Cradley Heath. I don’t think I gave you too much grief! Good luck to your team in the Prem also. Rob T.
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Make Fred Hintstone Prime Minister! He speaks more sense about the current state of affairs in this country, and the way people with experience and free thought are cast to the wind (in all industries, not just journalism), than any corporate gobble-de-gook mannequin could ever muster.
And all the while the nodding yes-men with their flash company cars, smart suits (and, in some cases, ultra high heels) walk all over the working man and woman.
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