A veteran MP has accused a regional daily of becoming “a mere shadow of itself” amid planned redundancies by its owner Trinity Mirror.
Six redundancies are planned at the Coventry Telegraph as part of a wider restructure of parent company Trinity Mirror’s operations in the West Midlands which will also see 19 jobs go in Birmingham.
Geoffrey Robinson, who has represented Coventry North West in Parliament since 1976 , has written to Telegraph editor Keith Perry over the changes, saying the newspaper had “abandoned its responsibility” to scrutinise those in office.
Mr Robinson, pictured left, has also drafted an early day motion on the subject, and is understood to have demanded a meeting with Keith about the proposals along with the city’s other MPs, Jim Cunningham and Colleen Fletcher.
A total of 25 jobs are under threat at Trinity Mirror’s West Midlands centres, with every member of staff in Coventry and Birmingham offered voluntary redundancy.
The editor of the Birmingham Post, Stacey Barnfield, has also announced his departure, although his role is not believed to have been among those at risk in the restructure.
Mr Robinson’s letter to Keith reads: “Redundancies are always a sad business and very sadly they seem to come in a never ending stream at the Coventry Telegraph.
“Your newspaper is a mere shadow of itself. After the present redundancies, your paper could be left with just four reporters and as few as 20 editorial staff in total.
“You will have hollowed out your capacity to play the important role of a free press in a modern democracy.
“Coventry is fast becoming a vibrant dynamic city again. What a pity that our newspaper has abandoned its responsibility to scrutinise and hold to account those of us in positions of responsibility.”
Mr Robinson’s EDM reads: “This House expresses deep concern at the announcement by Trinity Mirror that it intends cutting 25 Midlands jobs as part of a newsroom restructure; further expresses concern at the impact of such a development on local accountability and democracy; further notes the impact this will have on content with far fewer journalists; and urges Trinity Mirror urgently to hold talks with the National Union of Journalists.”
Trinity Mirror has declined to comment further on the issue.
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Bad week for Trinity Mirror Midlands!
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It’s probably best for Geoffrey that the CT is a shadow of its former self… I can think of a couple of things he’s done recently that should have warranted stronger coverage and criticism. How he got away with resigning and then standing again is beyond me…
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He was hardly vocal about making it easy for the press to play an important role in democracy when he was part of that New Labour government. How quickly they forget.
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Robinson is in no position to talk. His letter and EDM displays ignorance and hypocracy. This is precisely why I always cringe when I read how some papers regard close ties and relationships with their MP/MPs as being a mark of competence and professionalism. It’s just evidence of toadying and should be no part of a decent paper’s remit. Robinson is right about the paper becoming a shadow of its former self but no understanding that it’s across the board. He should be writing (not that anyone in the House or outside cares what he thinks) to the chief execs of the big companies and their boards. They are the people killing this industry, not the editors.
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It’s pointless lobbying the editor over this. It’s the faceless – and highly remunerated – TM management, locally and nationally, who should be in the crosshairs.
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Good to see the venerable Geoffrey Robinson stepping in to highlight the calamitous failings of this once great beacon of journalism. It would not be far fetched or disingenuous to describe the Coventry Telegraph as a shadow of its former self, as indeed Geoffrey does.
Too much of the CT’s real talent has been driven away in recently. The empirical evidence of the average reader in Coventry suggests that people are turning away from the Coventry Telegraph’s highly questionable and uncomfortable close ties with Coventry City Council.
Instead the public are migrating to the challenging and engaging journalism of the Coventry Observer which can still hold the local authority to account.
It won’t be long now until the free Observer has the same number of reporters as the Telegraph. What a seismic shift in fortune that would be.
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Proof that MPs really do live in a Westminster bubble. If they had taken proper notice of what was happening to their local newspaper these public representatives would realise that they might as well have a meeting with the lowliest junior reporter for all the good it would do.
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Expecting some monolithic corporation to have a sense of public duty and altruism is futile. The only future for local news is via a community-owned model in a similar way some lower division football clubs are now fan-owned.
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Sad year this for Coventry, the Sky Blues scrape past relegation to division 2 and the Cov Tel heads to circulation figures in the teen thousands. It is a shadow of itself, hard to disagree, but comparing it to its heyday is hardly fair when the market has been so cruel. What will be left after this cull? Can a city newsroom fire on all cylinders with 3 or 4 reporters and umpteen content editors? Very imbalanced. The idea of content has changed dramatically even in the last few years. With newspapers now seeing more webclicks for a sunset photo than a murder story, its this which guides managers to their fateful decisions.
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Where is the evidence of readers migrating to the free Coventry observer? What rot. Only someone who had migrated to the observer themselves would say that. Hmmmm….,
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One MP complained about JP closing a local paper office in a prominent town. He got nowhere and what is left of the few staff re-write press releases from 10 miles away. So good luck to this guy!
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Creased up makes it sound like the Coventry Observer (Bullivant Media) are gleefully awaiting the demise of the Coventry Telegraph so it falls far back to the low level the Observer inhabits. Hardly sporting old chap. Many families in Coventry place the Coventry Telegraph at the forefront of their news diet. Sadly for the business model of newspapers, the city has seen a rise in new habitants -students, economic migrants, asylum seekers, young workers – which does not share the appetite for news the older generations had. I understand the need for papers to engage with this new audience, but, tragically, this does not require dozens of staff anymore. Infact, hyperlocal sites are sometimes run by one person, and are as equally thought of by the average facebook user as something similar to traditional titles. Thats the level most newspapers will fall to, so don’t think the Coventry Observer is immune.
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Oh dear “Creased Up”, you really need to let this obsession with your former employer go.
I doubt the readers have noticed any “real talent” being driven away recently. The newsroom certainly hasn’t.
The fact is the Telegraph is still massively outperforming the free rag in the city, which ends up in most people’s bins before they even glance at the front page wraparound adverts.
The meagre web figures of the Observer are truly laughable. To even compare the reach of the two brands is embarrassing.
But good luck to the Observer and their many “journalists”. Just how qualified are they by the way…? I’m sure they’re well paid as well…
I’m also sure a newspaper which claims to hold people to account is signed up to IPSO, isn’t it? Otherwise that would be terrible hypocrisy!
EXCLUSIVE!
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