A leading regional daily is set to axe its picture desk along with several sports writing roles as part of the introduction of a new-look ‘digital-first’ newsroom.
As reported on HTFP last month, Trinity Mirror is currently rolling out its ‘Newsroom 3.1′ plan at its titles in the West Midlands.
Although the company says the changes have led to a net increase in the number of journalists employed at the titles, seven roles are currently under threat.
HTFP understands that they include the roles of picture editor, deputy picture editor, head of sport, cricket correspondent and rugby correspondent.
Newsroom 3.1, which envisages content being published online first before being reverse-published into print titles, has previously been rolled out in Trinity’s Newcastle, Cardiff and Manchester centres.
The current roll-out is taking place at the group’s Birmingham and Coventry centres which publish the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post, Sunday Mercury and Coventry Telegraph.
The decision to dispose with the picture desk in Birmingham follows similar moves at other major Trinity Mirror titles, a change unrelated to the introduction of Newsroom 3.1.
Only Cardiff among the main regional centres has retained a separate picture desk operation with photographers at other centres now reporting directly to the newsdesk.
Sports journalists at risk of redundancy in Birmingham include head of sport Ken Montgomery, who is thought to have been with the papers for 40 years, and cricket correspondent Brian Halford, who has covered Warwickshire country cricket for the past 17 years.
Also under threat is rugby correspondent Brian Dick who currently covers Moseley RFC.
Trinity Mirror has previously pointed out that seven new roles have been created in the Midlands in anticipation of the Newsroom 3.1 roll-out while a further five are being created as a result of the changes.
David Brookes, Midlands’ editor-in-chief, said last month: “We have seen fantastic growth in our online audiences since the start of the year and Newsroom 3.1 will help us continue that success for years to come.”
However the company has declined to comment on the impact of the proposed changes on individual roles.
A spokesperson said that a 30-day consultation process with seven staff was continuing.
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
This is an updated version of a story HTFP ran a fortnight ago. I said then that TMM tried to get rid of all the photographers four (?) years ago then ended up re-employing them all on near-permanent freelance contracts when they saw what a stupid idea it was. The same will happen this time, no doubt.
Report this comment
Some more very good people being thrown on the scrap heap. It’s one hell of a gamble – be interesting to see what plan B is on this one.
Report this comment
Nasty, nasty. To be replaced by kids with a sports journalism degree and no sense of context or history, nor, very likely, with anything like the knowledge, passion or ability of those they are replacing. But, if that’s what the consumer wants, that’s he gets
Report this comment
‘Digital first’ = ‘Quality last’
Report this comment
Scoop and Captain Calamity, I totally agree.
Report this comment
Digital first is a good idea, but only if the quality of what’s on offer keeps readers interested.
And there is the problem. Quizzes, listicles and galleries are all very well, but readers and, as importantly, advertisers will see through it.
You want quality content, not amateur articles you can read on a million other websites out there now.
News is news, however it’s delivered. But journalists need to learn from experienced people, otherwise the industry really is doomed to be filled with whiny comment pieces such as those the Guardian specialises in, or badly researched and poorly written rubbish.
Report this comment
There are a number of assumptions made in the comments here which are incorrect.
Scrapping a picturedesk, as HTFP call it, is not the same as getting rid of photographers, which rather makes Red Postman’s point irrelevant.
Secondly, digital content doesn’t mean poor quality content. Newsrooms are producing quizzes, listicles and galleries because readers actually like them, and read/play them in large numbers.
But that doesn’t mean that everything we as local journalists hold dear gets thrown out the window. If you look at the Birmingham Mail site, it isn’t full of quizzes and listicles, it’s also got more local news than any other news organisation in the area, breaking news, what’s on, and coverage of the main football clubs.
Observer is right in one sense – readers and advertisers will see through shallow attempts to get clicks, but that doesn’t appear to be what is happening in the Midlands, or anywhere else.
Report this comment
Am I wrong ?….. Do most online news web sites particularly rolling twenty four hour newspaper ones, carry more images than print ones, so wouldn’t you think it would be important to retain people who are skilled at compiling, gathering and outputting pictures? There may be the odd exception but most written journalists are uncomfortable and are not trained how to handle images. Making web sites a winner without good images properly displayed seems a very short sighted cost saver to me.
Report this comment
Good point from news photographers inc. This decision just shows the contempt and lack of respect many regional management teams have for Picture Desk staff and photographers!
Report this comment
Sooner or later, someone “in power” is going to realise what a ludicrous idea this is. When pictures get poorer and people stop reading the paper/www site because it’s so bad, they’ll have no advertisers and thus no product.
Totally ridiculous.
Report this comment
Not doomed, how much money do they make?
Report this comment
For all the moonshine spouted by executives everyone else knows they dont care enough about quality to ensure adequate staffing. Its the same everywhere and we have hear all this bull from bosses week in and week out. Or get out.
Report this comment
Kendo – do they make as much money as print? No. Do they make an increasing % of a newspaper’s revenue? Yes. Would print decline stop if the website was switched off? No. Are revenues growing very fast? Yes. Are they profitable? Yes.
Report this comment
Unfortunately T-M have been encouraged by the recent huge increases in unique visitors to Chronicle Live which is generated by a “Newsroom 3.1″ digital first operation. They’re convincing advertisers that digital is best, and you get a bit in the paper as well.
Problem is, the quality of journalism is falling in equal proportion to the rise in visitors and readers comments ridiculing so-called stories are becoming far from unusual.
A bubble waiting to burst?
Report this comment
The way the “digital first” strategy has been implemented appears wildly uneven. The Sunday Mercury (once the golden boy of the Trinity Mirror Midlands newsroom) no longer has a dedicated website. The Coventry Times – a weekly with a distribution of over 60,000 according to TM’s own statistics – has literally vanished from the face of Google. And the Solihull News, which has a history stretching back 80 years, is saddled with a site that is apparently updated a grand total of once a week (less regularly than a decade ago.) And yet we’re supposed to believe this is progress?
Report this comment
As an old hack of 50 years standing who is now happily out of the newspaper business, can i ask just two questions?
When all the papers have been replaced by websites, which is only a few years away, how many staff will remain? And how much profit will be generated?
Call me old-fashioned, but whenever I’m confronted by a paywall, I go somewhere else for my news/features/photo fix. No way am I paying an online subscription when there are so many sources of free material.
As for online advertising, I never read it.
The management ‘suits’ who control newspapers nowadays – most of them ex ad reps – are pursuing strategies guaranteed to see news companies disappearing up their own backsides well before 2050.
Not a nice thought for a newsman who relished the good times, even though I’ll be long gone by then.
Report this comment
In a nutshell: papers have to be of good enough quality for advertisers to want to be seen in them. I know of one client that will no longer appear in the Yorkshire Evening Post, due to the surrounding ads cheapening the look of his product. When the standing of a title fails, be it due to poor journalism, picture quality, bad ads, lack of creativity etc. the advertisers will pull out. What price all cost cutting then? I notice from a tweet by Ashley Highfield that he bought vinyl albums the other day and commented that people like physical. Yes, Mr H. people, and advertisers, do. Keep the quality: they will for longer. Print is not dead and makes more revenue. What exactly is meant by digital first? Digital eventually or digital alongside, maybe, but why the rush to digital first?
Report this comment
Getting rid of the picture desk is not the same as scrapping photographers? I accept that but it will surely mean that young inexperienced snappers will be sent out on jobs with no guidance from those who have been there and done it as to what is expected, what is good and bad and what constitutes a decent picture.
Report this comment
digitalDead!! As far as local weekly papers go digital is a complete failure. You can have an online audience of 50K but it won’t sell more ads. Small business advertisers don’t like it and won’t use it but the print editions are being neglected and are suffering. The bosses rush to digital will leave them with nothing because, as with TM and JP when they realise it’s not working it will be too late!
Report this comment
Mt Angry – not strictly true. Provincial websites can work, but you need to employ the people to build the relationships with the local advertisers rather than cold call them on the phone every now and then.
Report this comment
Re the comments about quality photographs. April this year I approached a magazine I have worked for in the past with a couple of picture story ideas.
An email came back to me saying that they no longer pay for images and now just rely on sent in pics.
They asked me if I would mind sending in my images.
I didn’t reply, yesterday afternoon I received an email from them asking if I had anything for them, and yes they are willing to pay for it.
Perhaps it has sunken in to one editor that quality is needed after all!!
Report this comment
Photographers are the heart and soul of local newspapers and often the only face-to-face contact readers have with their newspaper.
Report this comment
More good people lost to the industry. Brian Halford is a great guy and blooming good writer – and one of the only reasons I go on to the Birmingham Mail website. Good luck mate – you are best out of it!
Report this comment