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Five weeklies to come under single group editor in Newsquest cutbacks

NewsquestFive weekly newspapers look set to come under the control of a single editor as part of a series of job cuts at a recently purchased newspaper group.

Newsquest has unveiled plans to cut jobs at the Ayrshire Weekly Press group, which it acquired as part of its takeover of Romanes Media Group earlier this year.

The proposed cutbacks will see three editors and a sub-editor made redundant, as well as two photographers.

In their place, those affected are being invited to apply for two new roles, group editor and content editor.

A freelance sub-editor is also set to leave under the proposals, which were announced to staff last week.

Titles affected include the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald, Ayr Advertiser, Cumnock Chronicle, Irvine Times and Largs & Millport Weekly News.

However, it is understood both Roisin McGroarty, who currently edits the Herald and the Times, and David Carnduff, who oversees, the Largs & Millport Weekly News, had decided to leave the company before the current plans were announced.

This would leave Caroline Paterson, currently managing editor of both the Advertiser and the Chronicle, in charge of all five titles if she were to successfully apply for the group editor role.

The job losses are the latest in a series of cutbacks to have taken place at the former Romanes titles.

Newsquest recently axed seven production jobs at former Romanes titles in Berkshire, while Reading Chronicle editor Lesley Potter quit her role in September.

Newsquest has yet to respond to HTFP’s request for a comment.

11 comments

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  • November 11, 2015 at 8:57 am
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    I am still waiting for Newsquest’s response to HTFP’s request for a comment about yesterday’s redundancies, so I guess I will have to add on more time for its comments in response to today’s HTFP request concerning the current cull. I bet they’ll be worth every minute of the waiting, though. And so it goes relentlessly on… Good luck to everyone affected here.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 9:52 am
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    I can’t believe this continual /continuing slaughter of our once-great industry.
    At this rate there’ll be no one left to make redundant in five years’ time, give or take a year or so.
    When I retired through ill-health in 1999 – yes, I had a breakdown caused largely through depression/anxiety/stress brought about by the extra pressures of being expected to work seven days a week as a district reporter/photographer – I could never have imagined that the situation in our profession would deteriorate to this extent.
    I just feel so sorry for those still surviving; for this dwindling band of journalists, every e-mail from management must be expected to carry (more) bad news outlining the brave new world of further cutbacks, consolidation and mergers.
    We will remember them…

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  • November 11, 2015 at 10:14 am
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    Why didn’t Romaines build in safeguards into the buy-out to protect jobs?

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  • November 11, 2015 at 10:19 am
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    Time has come for NUJ to investigate mood for a national strike at all Newsquest titles

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  • November 11, 2015 at 10:36 am
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    You’re right about that Dick – this drip, drip, drip of death in local journalism seems to goes on day after depressing day, endlessly.

    *Story idea for HTFP at year’s end: it would be good to have a round up of “those we have lost in 2015″- titles and jobs, just so we can put this daily reckoning into some sort of perspective on a national scale.
    I’m assuming of course that, unlike the local Press, you’ve got enough staff to carry out the task….

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  • November 11, 2015 at 11:12 am
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    Good point, Argus, and I was going to request the exact same thing after making predictions of a bloody 12 months here last New Year’s Eve. If anything, it’s been worse than I feared as an entire ‘industry’ looks to be on the way out. Local news may be financially sustainable in some form but the big corporations have don’t have a clue and all they can do is keep cutting… until there’s nothing left to cut.

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  • November 11, 2015 at 11:15 am
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    It becomes increasingly clear that journalists do not have a role in the brave new world envisaged by TM LW and the ever-likely Newsquest JP mash-up (JP shares down to 65p today – they were £1.10 three months ago!).
    Without minimising the impact on entire communities of wholesale steel industry closures, surely the job loss numbers we see across the regional media are approaching the same scale?
    Is there not a story here?

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  • November 11, 2015 at 2:23 pm
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    Problem is, Confused, that there are no stories carried about in-house redundancies in the papers affected. And there certainly wouldn’t be houseroom for a round up of the whole sorry story.

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  • November 12, 2015 at 9:28 am
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    It was always going bad news for the staff of Romames once Newsquest took them over. There is a constant threat of redundancy hanging over the heads of Newsquest employees, and there will be another batch of ‘jobs under threat’ somewhere in the Newsquest empire in the run up to Christmas, that is almost certain.

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  • November 12, 2015 at 1:34 pm
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    “Why didn’t Romaines build in safeguards into the buy-out to protect jobs?”

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha *pauses for breath* hahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha

    Having worked there briefly a few years back, it was obvious they were just biding their time for a buyout, with no interest in either the quality of the papers or the (already skeleton) staff who churned them out.

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  • November 14, 2015 at 5:35 pm
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    Newsquest are actually making all editors and news editors redundant that work for Romames – not just the ayrshire titles.

    So Fife and Clyde titles are also coming under attack.

    Be nothing left soon apart from overworked junior reporters.

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